Shadow War: Forces collide
by Beck2
Summary: Rest time is over. It's time to meet back up and take care of the problem.
1. Enter the players

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men. Or the Brotherhood and all of those people created by Stan Lee. I do own Stray, Danny, Buddy, Julian, Daria, Gepetto, Dracon, Rampage, and the rest of my original characters.

Hi everybody! This weird idea just popped into my head and I was thinking, well why not?  This is an AU (Alternate Universe) from my usual writing. So that means that everything you knew about Danny is to be totally dashed when you read this story.  Don't worry, I will be carrying on both universes (albeit on and off) and having fun, just because I think it's fun.  Oh, and there will be similarities, but don't let them get to you.

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"Oh *^&%!"

We threw ourselves over the hood of the car as bullets started hailing on top of us.  I glared at my companion.

"You just HAD to go make friends, didn't you?"

"They were nice until they pulled out their guns and started shooting us."

"They're ALWAYS nice until they start shooting at you." I retorted as the side view mirror busted on top of us.

We brushed off the glass as the shots rang overhead.  

"I don't suppose we could dial 1-800-WENEED-HELP?"

"Nah," He said as he took a piece of mirror and tried to see over the car hood. "Left the cell behind." The mirror got shot out of his hand. "And they'd probably hang up once they heard we were mutants anyway."

I glanced around. The sound of approaching sirens caught my ears, and I knew we had to do something drastic.

"Stray, get us out of here."

"About time we did this."

"Keep your tentacles where I can see them."

"Yes ma'am."

He took in a deep breath, and his face flashed in pain as tentacles burst from his back, metal strands that were as almost as strong as adamantanium, each only about three inches in diameter with three tiny claws at the end of each one. I don't know how many he has, I've never asked.  

Several dug into the ground as I grabbed him around the neck. He shot us straight up, surprising our friendly shooters.

"Shoot up!"

"Shut-up!" I yelled back at them.

"Please don't annoy the people shooting at us." Stray said as he deposited us on the roof of a nearby building. The tentacles disappeared back into the metal plate that covered his middle and lower back. His shirt was torn up.  We took off fast by roof jumping, a technique we had both mastered after several practices involving badly broken bones and wounded pride.

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"I cannot believe you two. You were supposed to go out for groceries and what did you do? Destroy another city block."

"Wow. So this is what having a mom is like…OW!"

Stray threw his arms over his head to fend off the barrage of hits he was getting from Gepetto, who was using an old geometry book to beat some sense into his head.  

"Way to go Gepetto." Daria said smugly. She was painting her nails as she sat on the edge of the table as her puppet continued beating up Stray. It was her that Stray had been insulting.

I sat in a chair with my dogs at my feet, contemplating. It was a strange group I lived with.

Stray, so named because he followed me around for an entire day and wouldn't stop pestering me, is perhaps the single most immature guy I know. He lounges around all day in gray pants and a white tank top, or making some sort of invention that inevitably blows up in his face or someone else's. Eighteen, no steady job, but then again none of us do.  He is five ten, with long blonde hair he keeps in a ponytail that was getting messed up by getting barraged by a geometry book. His bangs go down to his chin, and his eyes are gray, though he usually has sunglasses on to keep the cool guy persona. However, all of his shortcomings are negated by his mastery over anything electronic and mechanical. The tentacles in his back move to his every whim, and he can use his empathy for machines to turn any video game to his favor.

Daria, a girl with a fetish for black lace and leather, is a determined person, not known for giving up on anything. Now she was wearing a black mini skirt with a red vest. She has a naturally white complexion, red lips enhanced by her lipstick, and red hair tied into pigtails. She is taller than I am, and her green eyes usually sparkle with a sort of smug happiness.  Gepetto, her little puppet, is evidence of her own power. She can give temporary mobility (and monstrous looks) to inanimate objects, unless she gives them a huge power boost, like Gepetto.

Gepetto, for being a wooden puppet, is the freakiest person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.  He started out as a cute little marionette, albeit one that would give thirty year olds nightmares, with overalls and a plaid shirt and a green beret. Even though he's only two feet tall, he tends to be more than a match for anyone, especially with all the blades stuck into his body that he retracts on mental command.  Even so, he's actually not that bad, except for the fact that he gets a little crazy when he misses his fumigations.

"NIAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

"Evil puppet monster!"

"I don't think that's what having a mom is like," Julian said to the guy standing next to him.

Julian is the meanest looking guy that you could ever tick off. Of course, he's a very sweet and gentle guy, but that doesn't stop him from looking ferocious. He wears Shorts made from Jeans to allow for movement of his lanky legs and sometimes a t-shirt, but not usually.  He stands eight feet tall at the ear tips, and his body covered in brown fur, coarse and very tough, especially with the scales underneath the fur, protecting him like armor. Halfway down his upper arm the fur vanished into strong green scales, ending in four fingers tipped with deadly looking silver crescent claws. He had a long muzzle with a black nose complementing his brown fur and green eyes, and his legs were full of muscle. His tail, large and heavy, constantly flicked even if he stayed still.  On his back lay feathered bat-like wings and his jaw was lined with massive teeth.  

But he really was a sweet guy.

Besides the obvious implications of being the muscle in our operation, he also had limited empathy concerning animals.

The guy all of us refer to as 'Buddy' because we have absolutely no idea what his name is (and he doesn't seem to either, or doesn't want to inform us) is a calm, objective guy. Who likes Lucky Charms.  He was eating a bowl that second. Watching the battle between the two dummies with feigned interest.  He is Asian, with short cut black hair and a steady air. He wears pretty much the same thing every day, brown pants, a gray shirt and a red overcoat. He would seem very… non-dangerous. But I've seen him fight, and I know that he's a force to be reckoned with. I also know that he is a mutant, because he can pull off all Kung-fu movie stunts with ease. I believe the power is controlling his weight, and I sense that his powers have to deal with his age as well, because I don't believe for a minute that he's twenty-five. However, if it does slow down his aging, it doesn't heal him. If anything, I believe it takes him longer to heal than most people. In any case, he is our constant source of wisdom.

"You might want to watch out for that table."

WHAMM!

"Think you could have warned me before I started falling Buddy?!"

Though that wisdom is sometimes flawed.

And me. My name is Danny. I not quite sure how to describe myself. I'm a young girl, perhaps the youngest here, unless you count Julian, but that's a story for another time. My hair is brown of two varying colors, I assume by my mutation, though it could happen that it's that way naturally.  My dogs, Doggy, Cassius, and Brutus, are the meanest pups ever to take on the streets. And me, well I'm kind of there sometimes. I teeter on the line between what I am, what I could be. But the problem is, I don't know what I can be. I've always been a realistic person, high ideals do not appeal to me.  My mutation allows me to speak with the beasts, any one I want to. I can even control them, though I usually don't have to. That, and a little offensive power which allows me to speed up cells in some way, bringing dead things back to life and causing extreme pain to live things.

"OWWW!"

"What are you freaks doing in my underwear drawer?!"

"Crap! Gepetto, run!"

Extreme pain sounds pretty good about now…

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"Dracon!"

"What?" droned the scaly mutant lazily.

"Did you hear? Little rat and her mechanical dimwit showed up in some backwater town, and they didn't stop them!"

"They?"

"If you actually got off your stupid butt and started looking around you, you'd realize that we'd actually been making some progress in tracking down that little rat and her gang."

"Progress? I fail to see it if she got away from you again."

"Shut-up!" the girl squealed. She stomped her foot like a little child. "I wish Rampage would just find them and destroy all of them, just rip them to bits…"

"Again, they?"

"They, theytheythey! The hired guys we got to blow a hole through rat's head."

"So what went wrong?" He said boredly.  He always felt sluggish. His mutation kept him from moving much, but it also made him totally invulnerable.  His body was covered in brown scales that had massive spikes all over them. The spikes were poisonous, and his body had long ago changed to resemble a lizard. Almost twelve feet long, his appetite was as big as he was.

"That stupid mechanical moron walked right up to them and asked them if their guns were approved by the NRA."

"So glad they have a sense of humor." He said boredly. He was bored by the girl's constantly annoying manner. She tried so much to be so perfect. And she believed it. 

And he was forbidden to eat her.

She was a well-dressed girl, with long brown hair and a seemingly innocent look to her. The fact that she thought it was fun to mess with people's heads, especially with the ability she had to twist people's perceptions, was totally beside the matter.

"Sense of humor? He's an idiot! It's a miracle that they managed to last this long!"

"So it is."

She shook her head exasperatedly and walked out of the room.

Dracon boredly sharpened his claws on the floor. Hearing her talk always made him hungry.

Maybe they would let him eat some of the ones that failed…

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Hmmmm…..This has the potential to get interesting.

Dracon will take the reviews. And remember—Don't feed the review taker.


	2. The Mall: A meeting between three groups

Is it weird in here, or is it just me?  
  
Steven Wright  
  
Rogue77: A little more on her this chapter. Thanks, Danny is my favorite subject to write about.  
  
torque: Hmmm..Arcane will probably show up. And as far as your other question, I haven't quite decided yet. It will be answered in good time.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^^*  
  
"Okay, so we're splitting up for half the trip. Who wants Stray?"  
  
"HEY!"  
  
"I'll take him." Daria said.  
  
"Don't do me any favors." He grumbled. Gepetto leered at him.  
  
"Danny, you better go with those two, I know how much trouble they can get into." Buddy said. I looked over at Julian.  
  
"Can you take care of Buddy and yourself?"  
  
His eyes twinkled. "I think we can manage."  
  
I nodded. "Alright. So where are we meeting?"  
  
"We meet in New York. Hopefully we can keep a few steps ahead of our friends that way." Daria supplied.  
  
"Julian and I will take the scenic route. You guys are better off going through the fastest ways and setting up base." Buddy said as he packed the last few things in his bag.  
  
I had already packed. Doggy and the twins were sitting in the room with us. The twins were making crude comments that only I could hear, and Doggy sat impassively as ever. I don't believe I've ever heard him talk.  
  
"So which way are we going?" Daria snatched up our only map and began to read it.  
  
"You won't be able to tell if you keep holding that map upside down." Buddy said, not looking up. She glared at him and turned the map the right side up.  
  
"Bayville. What kind of name is THAT?"  
  
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A couple hours later...  
  
^*^*^*^**^^*^*^**^^*^*^*^*^* "Rampage, we have to find them. I want to kill that little Rat."  
  
"Brain Wave, if I knew where she was, then I would have killed her myself."  
  
"Well then what are we going to do?"  
  
"Go to Bayville. I've heard reports that they were sighted on that route."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Hmm.I think it woud be best to capture some of them alive."  
  
"I want her dead! She humiliated me!"  
  
He turned around and glared at her.  
  
"That's a hell of a lot less than what I'm going to do if you don't get out." He whispered dangerously.  
  
Brain Wave stepped back, a flash of fear passing through her perfect face. She almost let slip the truth, but controlled herself and turned and flounced away.  
  
Rampage looked at the mirror. He was a strong man, with a short cropped black beard and long raven hair. He was full of muscles to complement his power, uncontrollable rage full of strength and invulnerability as long as the rage lasted. This place, and underground bunker which they had found, was the perfect place for their little gang. But that brat and her little friends kept getting in the way.  
  
But as much as Brain Wave would like to believe, they were not idiots. They were incredibly smart to have gotten this far.  
  
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"Isn't Bayville supposed to be purple?"  
  
"Are you messing around with the provincial regions of that map again?"  
  
Daria turned the map over. "Oh."  
  
Stray sniggered into his hand. Gepetto was laughing too.  
  
I shook my head as my canines wandered about the road we were walking on.  
  
"How did you guys ever get out of the gene pool?"  
  
"That is so cruel." Daira pouted as the guys just laughed harder.  
  
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Several more hours..  
  
^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^*^* "Scott, will you go shopping with me?"  
  
"Err, I don't know Jean."  
  
"Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" Jean seized his arm. "We have to hurry, Ororo is taking a bunch of the others in the vans, why don't we take your car and catch up with them?"  
  
"I guess so." He said, slightly pleased. Even if it was a shopping trip, he was still with Jean.  
  
They quickly went to the garage and went in pursuit of Ororo Monroe and her van. They stopped alongside her at Bayville Mall.  
  
"I almost didn't think you'd make it." Ororo said as she herded Jubilee and the other girls towards the mall. The guys followed at a short distance. There was Ray, Evan, Roberto, and Sam following the group, and Amara, Jubilee, and Kitty leading it.  
  
"Wow, I mean we haven't been out in like a gazillion years!"  
  
Jean stifled a laugh at Kitty's accusation. The other girls agreed full heartedly with her.  
  
"Clothing store here we come!" Amara yelled in a very unprincessly manner.  
  
^**^*^*^^^**^^**^^*^*^*^*^**^^*  
  
Brain Wave dragged Ripsaw and Repose after her. Three hours in this accursed little town and nothing! At least she would spend the last few hours shopping.  
  
Brain Wave rarely let any imperfection go unnoticed. She exploited it, ripped it open. By secret days she went by the name Cassandra, the perfect brown haired beauty that could turn all the heads. But when business called, or if she saw that girl, she could prove to be an incredibly wicked opponent. Her powers to change people's perceptions made her a force to be reckoned with. At least, in her own eyes.  
  
Ripsaw, being not the brightest crayon in the box, was what one could call biomechanical. He could change any part of his body into blades, or as he commonly made them, saws. He was tall, athletic, and looked as if his nose had been broken an umpteenth number of times. His brown hair was stringy and long, and he wore a constant sneer on features that would never be referred to as handsome. He went by the name of Butch of all things.  
  
Repose always had a tired look on his face. He was short and squat, with bleary black eyes. His hair was grayish and his face was constantly lined with weariness. He used the name Kip as his alias.  
  
Cassandra eyed the clothing with great satisfaction. They were perfect for her. Not that the dolts next to her could understand.  
  
"Why are we here again?" Butch whined.  
  
"Because you've gotten nowhere." She said snippily.  
  
"We cannot help the fact that she is not here." Kip said sleepily.  
  
"Cannot help the fact," she sneered. " She is an animal empathy that walks around with a puppet toting freak and-"  
  
"Who are you calling a freak Brain Wuss?"  
  
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^**^*^  
  
"Wow. Look at all the people running."  
  
"I knew we shouldn't have stopped at the mall. Bad things happen at malls." I said as a woman in a polka dot dress stretched very unflatteringly across her figure ran around screaming about monster coat racks.  
  
Stray hugged his bag close to him. I know he had some sort of dangerous device in there just waiting to cause havoc.  
  
"You know, this wouldn't have happened if that guy in the park didn't tell that dog to fetch the stick."  
  
"Hey now, if I knew that dog was going to chase Gepetto in the mall, I would have stopped it."  
  
"Speaking of dogs, where are they?"  
  
"Outside looking out for trouble."  
  
"Great load of help they were."  
  
More people ran by screaming, one of them screaming incoherently about a person with saws for hands.  
  
"Ripsaw in a mall? How'd he learn to open the doors?" Stray wondered aloud.  
  
"Come on, we gotta find Daria." I said as I moved towards the evacuation site.  
  
"Wait!"  
  
Stray and I turned around to see a couple girls and a few guys in matching uniforms running up to us.  
  
"You can't go that way. It's dangerous!" A blonde haired boy said.  
  
"Go that way." A girl ordered me. She had long brown hair and a pompous air about her.  
  
I hate people like that.  
  
"And if I don't?"  
  
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Yay! Another chapter up.  
  
Repose will take the reviews. Don't worry, he's only faking sleep. 


	3. Run Away!

Writing is like cooking...if you spill something, you should make it look like part of the act.   
--John Keeble

Laureate: I'll spill the beans about BW's beef with Danny later, and as for Dracon…he's very…carnivorous. And Bored. More on him later.

Azzandra: Kara? Which story? I'd love to read it.

HoneyBug17: Well, here's the next installment, I hope you like it.

Rogue77: Does this mean I get cookies? Yes, I decided to put things a little differently in Danny's relationship with the X-men in this Universe.

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What started out as a simple shopping trip quickly turned into a mall-wide battlezone.

It had started when Scott had ordered the new recruits to evacuate people while he, Jean, and Storm ran off to neutralize the situation.  But they had run into two people that were making a stand-off.

Amara glared at a girl in blue jeans and a green t-shirt. The girl looked about seventeen, but one couldn't be sure. The girl's hair was two shades of brown and she had startling blue eyes. She was of medium height. Her body, while she was fairly good looking yet not enough to turn a lot of heads, was athletic like someone that ran and hiked a lot. She had a small amount of freckles, but they were mostly on her arms and neck.

Her companion, of medium height, was a blonde guy that seemed to take his cues from the girl beside him.  He kept a blank look on his face.

"As I said before, it's dangerous. You cannot possibly understand," Amara said with an incredible amount of restraint.

"I understand that you're in my way," the other girl challenged.

"Oh? Let me show you something." Amara burst into flames with her Magma form.

"Ooohh……Pretty." The companion commented to the girl. The girl looked shocked, but not frightened.

"Well." The girl stated uncertainly. "That's something you don't see everyday."

"HHHHEEEEEEEEELLLLLP!"

"Nihahahahaha!"

Scott ran past with a two foot tall walking puppet running after him.

"Gepetto." The girl called.

The puppet stopped and looked at her.  "Awww….Dann, five more minutes?"

"No. We have places to go. You can chase people when we get there. Did you see your other half?"

"She set a coat rack on Ripsaw and the escalator is trying to eat Brain Wave."

"….Really? Where?" 

"This way." The puppet ran off in the opposite direction. The girl and her companion followed suit.

The X-men stared as they left.

"Evan, we have to follow them." Jubilee said.

"Right. C'mon guys. Kitty, can you get Scott away from that pole?"

"I don't know, he's like, got a death grip on it."

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"HIYA!"

"You little RAT!"

"You know, you should extend your thesaurus on me. Rat just isn't cutting it anymore." I grinned as Brain Wave struggled to get out of the range of the escalator, whose upward steps had turned into a tongue and was sporting a mean set of teeth.

Daria's powers were unique to say the least. Perhaps clarification is in order. She pulls energy from her body into her hands and shots it out at inanimate objects. For say, a table, a small dose induces movement, a medium dose induces a transformation with teeth(sometimes) and more maneuverability, and an extra large dose sets off personality, like Gepetto. Usually the power runs out on its own and the object turns inanimate, but in the case of Gepetto it never wore off.

Apparently the escalator got a medium dose.

"Hey, those kids followed us." Stray said.

"Wow, they managed to pry Mr. Brave off of that pillar?  They're more resourceful than I first believed." I commented as they walked over.

"Who are you?!" Mr. Brave said, taking the authoritative stance. Or at least as well as he could, he was trying to look brave and keep an eye on Gepetto at the same time. And the wooden puppet wasn't helping his case.

"Who wants to know?" Stray asked.

"Why are you IGNORING ME!?" Brain Wave shrieked at them. She managed to get away from the monster escalator, which used up all of it's life a few seconds before and was sprawled everywhere, looking like a normal escalator that had been pulled up by a giant hand and thrown everywhere.

"Did you hear something?" Stray asked me. I hid a smile as Gepetto began giggling madly from behind my pant leg.

"I can't be sure. Our prior conversation was so engaging."

"YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Daria ran towards us, moving remarkably fast in her high heels. And right behind her came two flying women in a slightly different uniform than the guys that were following us around.  One had long white hair and she was throwing lightening bolts after Daira's retreating form. The other had red hair and would wave at things to make them float.

Stray looked down at me. "They started it."

"Yup."

"We're sadly outnumbered."

"Yup."

"We should run away."

"Yup."

"Gaaah!!!!" Daira slipped and ran into Stray, knocking him down.  I looked at Gepetto.

"You realize you got your personality from her right?"

"I prefer to think of it as getting the spark of inspiration from her, not the personality." Gepetto said primly.

"Just as long as we're on the same page."

"Yeah…Are you mocking me?"

"Naw."

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?!" Mr. Brave broke in angrily.

"Maybe later," Stray huffed as he pulled Daria to her feet. "Now we're going to show you something totally different."

"Where is Ripsaw? He should be here to help me kill you all!"

"He's tangled in the hangars. Ahehehehehehhehe." Daria giggled.

"Actually, that's pretty good." Stray snorted.

"Why are you here?" The white haired woman demanded.

"Who said we were here? We're already gone." Stray told her. 

"RUUN!"

"It's so good to know that we're so brave!" Daria yelled as we sped off in the direction that we had come from.

"Yeah, but think of it this way!"

"What?" She yelled back to me as the tumultuous noise of the other group came thundering after us.

"We aren't listening to the truth and justice of one group and how we're going to die slowly and horribly with the other one!"

"Oh that's always a plus!" Stray yelled. He was leading. The door was only a few feet ahead of us.

Of course, after things started flying around and getting holes punched through them by red beams and electric bolts started falling all around us, we started shuffling a little faster.

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"You WHAT?!"

"They caught us off guard! And what's more, there is another group of mutants!"

"The X-men."

"What?" Brain Wave asked confusedly.

Rampage turned his back to his three associates. 

"The X-men are a group of mutants obsessed with finding a way for mutants and humans to coexist."

"But we do coexist." She said sweetly. "We pay them to shoot people, and they do."

"They mean peacefully. Hmm…We must be on guard. Where there are X-men, there is Magneto, and we must tread lightly about him."

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"Are we lost?"

"We can't exactly ask for directions Julian."

"You ARE lost."

"I am not!" Buddy argued back with the other mutant. They quarreled over directions for a few minutes.

"See? If Dann were here, we wouldn't be in this mess! The others probably haven't gotten into any trouble!" Julian snapped.

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Naw."

"They probably already got arrested."

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Sigh. I'm sorry, once again, for not updating until now, we had a game and then had a lock in.  I stayed up all night on soda, chocolate, juice, and cookies.

Rampage will take reviews! Just don't make him angry!


	4. Apartment Hunting

I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.   
--Steven Wright

Rogue77: I can only say that he may show up. To say more might ruin the story.

Dragonet:I thought that it might be a little too much for her to deal with in her state. I mean, while I love the Acolytes to pieces, Putting them in may have totally cluttered the story, and it was mostly about her anyway.

*^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*

"Oh! Look, apartment for rent! Bathrooms, three rooms, utilities, and only about six hundred a month!"

"In New York? What's the catch animal girl?"

"Technically it's in New Jersey."

"EVIL!" Stray yelled at the top of his lungs.  People passing by us started whispering into their hands.

Apartment hunting. A necessary chore for our lifestyle. I went back to reading the paper. Daria had the other half with Gepetto tucked under her arm. He was playing dead. Or puppet.

And Stray was being himself. He was fiddling with a walkie-talkie, trying to raise our other two pals.

This is the way it's always been. We've never stayed for too long in one place, never tried to get into any meaningful relationships within or without the group. 

And then there was business.

I suppose one could say we live on the out fringes of the law. Smuggling, not drugs, and a little bit of scamming, some other things here and there.  And a little blackmail.

But not enough to get caught.

After all, how would we be able to pay for our food and the dozen rooms Stray kept blowing up?

"Ugh. Have you seen the dating classifieds?" Daria said as she read the section.

"I thought you guys were looking in the housing classifieds." Stray pointed out.

"You aren't looking for anything, so shut up." Snapped Daria.

"Hay Daria, that guy is looking at you." I said nodding to a guy down the street. She looked.

"Gross! That guy has to be fifty years old, Dann!"

"Well, I never said the age. And it did get you two out of your spat. We going with roach motel Jersey apartment?"

"It has roaches? Now I'm grossed out!" Stray complained.

^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*^*

"This new information on these mutants is most disconcerting. Cerebro didn't pick up any of their signatures." Professor Xavier said worriedly.

"Could Cerebro have malfunctioned? I mean, several of them were using their powers in plain sight, and I'll bet that the others were mutants too." Jean said.

"It is possible, though about the time you said it happened, several blips showed up on Cerebro but did not give information. It is possible that they are so in control of their powers that they are able to physically subdue their own signatures."

"How is that possible?" Scott wondered aloud.

"You do it as well, Scott, even though you don't realize it. The more mental control there is over the power, the harder it can become to spot, even with Cerebro."

Jean shook her head. "They couldn't have been older than us, and without your supervision, how could they have progressed so far?"

"While you flatter me with the comment, Jean, I'm sure that others could do the job just as well. And besides, the situation and lifestyle may attribute as well. We'll just have to wait and hope we can find them again."

^**^^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^^**^^**^^*^*^*^**^^*^**^

"So this is what you picked out? Couldn't you have picked one in New York?" Buddy asked me as I wrapped up another ice pack to press against Julian's ears.

"So sue me. It's close enough. You guys want to explain to me again why Julian is getting ice packs shoved down his ears courtesy of yours truly?"

"Stray and his gum and string walkie-talkie caught a high frequency when he called and Julian just happened to pick up."

"Figures."

"Hey, we thought you guys were gonna get arrested, but did you? No. See, that's something that didn't figure." Julian grumbled sorely.

Daria and I had nabbed the biggest room, calling feminine rights. And extra baggage in the way of a puppet and three dogs.  Julian got his own room as he tends to kick in his sleep, and his kick in turn tend to send people through walls.

Stray learned that the hardest way imaginable.

So Buddy and Stray were going to share a room.

Sometimes I wonder if Buddy didn't go through some training that made him impervious to fear.

"LOOK! I CAN EXPLODE THIS MICROWAVE IF I SET THE HEAT UP THREE HUNDRED PERCENT!"

The defense rests.

^*^*^*^**^^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^

"Business espionage? Sounds like small potatoes." Brain Wave said as Rampage outlined the plan.

"Yes, but they're paying us a bundle. This new microchip technology that the business in question will revolutionize the computers we know, making them faster and more efficient. That would be detrimental to our buyers." Rampage said.

"And what about the Rat?"

"If she shows up, you have my permission to blow her head off. But until then, forget about her and deal with the problem at hand. Now, Gaptran Corp. is our target."

^**^*^^*^*^**^*^*^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"Gaptran Corp?...Really…How much again?...Okay, let me get the others in on this. HEY GUYS!"

"What? Has our mysterious contact come bearing good news?" Stray asked.  He and the others were playing poker.

"Better. He got us a job. Did you guys look at my hand?"

"What were we supposed to do? It was unguarded. So what's the scoop?" Gepetto said as he snuck a peek at Daria's hand, who returned the favor by whacking him on the head with a newspaper.

"Guard duty. They're paying a bundle. What do you guys say?"

"Count me in. You know they have some of the most cutting edge tech there?" Stray grinned.

"Yeah, we'll take it." I said to the receiver.

^*^*^*^**^^*^**^^**^*^*^^*^*^**^^*^*

Hmm…Short chapter.

Doggy is taking the reviews again!  


	5. I Spy Trouble!

  
There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler's mind.

**--Douglas Adams**

Laureate: It might be. I'll see if I can't shed light on that in another few chapters.

Rogue77: I like Gepetto too; I have this thing for funny evil puppets.  And you're very welcome!

Dragonet: They'll show up, it'll just take them a good while. Marching Band is over for me, we're already in concert season working on Christmas music.

^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^**^^*^*^*^**^*^^**^^**^

Gaptran Corporation. Our new workplace. 

Especially since they were shelling out fifty big ones. That should keep us going for an entire year.

I dressed in the room I shared with Daria. She was messing around in the bathroom, putting on make-up. I hate make-up. I like to look natural.

Every time we get a gig, unless it's severely toned down cloak and dagger stuff, we put on specialized uniforms to deal with our powers. And our fashion senses.

My uniform was simple enough, but it looked complicated. I wear a black vest top and black padded pants that cut off mid calf. I tend to wear sandals when I work, in case I need to use the ground and kick off my shoes fast. My power works faster that way, and I've always been more comfortable walking around with no shoes on. My feet were taped up to my mid calf, not so much for looks but because I'm clumsy. And I tend to twist my ankle if I'm not applying at least eighty percent of my attention to my feet. 

And there comes the complicatedness. All over my pants are rings, usually small, like key rings. In fact most of them are. There are two large rings near my hips. Medium sized rings are also sewed into the hem of my Vest. They're for my animal counterparts that I just happen to recruit. If we needed to beat feet then they could just hang onto the rings. Unless they were like my dogs, in which case they beat me for speed anyway.

On either side on my shoulders are skulls, silver plated and constantly grinning as a symbol to my destructive power. I wear earring studs, butterflies, an insect commonly associated with death.  My hands, which get constantly torn because of the haphazard way I fight, are covered in black gloves, fingers cut out to allow for easy access to pain.  A choker with my codename across it adorns my neck.

Dahk.

I know I look impressive sometimes, but I tend to cut out of fights if they don't go my way. And have Stray blow them up at a safe distance.

"HEY DANN, YOU READY?"

Speaking of which…

"Coming!" I yelled back as I opened the door almost into his face.

"Watch it, Dann!" He yelped.

Stray's uniform is also black with silver lining. He wears black leather pant and mid calf boots, where he hides several non technical accessories in case all else fails. He wore a jacket he had a friend make out of bulletproof material, specially tailored so it wouldn't get in the way of the metal plating that held his tentacles. In fact, looking at him I wouldn't be able to tell at all that the plate hadn't been part of his uniform.  In place of his normal black glasses he wore goggle glasses, a concept that tends to boggle my mind. They had silver lenses, because he told me he liked matching, that worked just like goggles with a few electronic attachments except that he could pull them on and off like glasses.

And most wonderfully of all, his jacket was full of pockets in which his tech treasures reside and he had a big bag of tricks at his disposal. His codename was Mr. Gimmick, which actually is more of a joke, but he answers to it anyway.

I followed him out to the main room, where Buddy and Julian were waiting.

Buddy never wears anything but what he always wears.  Brown pants, gray shirt, red overcoat.  But I know that he had a couple tricks hidden in the coat, even though he makes a point to use his own fighting skill. Even I don't know what all he has in there, but he usually ends up bringing what the rest of us forget. We call him Kung Fu as a joke, but his codename is actually Balance. I have no idea why he chose that name.

Julian wears cut off black jeans. That's all he wears except for a spiked collar with dog tags hanging off. His fur was marked with black whorls, whirls, stripes, and haphazard lines pulling off a camouflage look.   He has no need for weapons, his claws and muscle are usually enough to make people back off.  As if the fact that he was eight feet tall with two and a half inch canine teeth and covered in fur didn't do that in the first hand. His codename was Fang, because we couldn't think up a good name and he didn't mind being named that anyway.

"Are we ready?" Daria asked as she walked in.

Daria is by far the most comfortable one of our group. With herself, that is.

Red is her favorite color.  Her ensemble included a low cut red shirt, showing off her midriff if she leaned over too far or put her hands above her head. A red vinyl skirt, showing off the black hose and red heels. The girl loves heels. Personally I don't know how she could walk in them.  Her lips were bright red, and her eyes were shadowed with a reddish purple.  She also wore black gloves identical to mine. Her garter, red (as if that's a shock) with a black gemstone, acted as holsters, with a pair of handguns on either side. And grenades. She liked to blow things up.

Stray is spreading.

However, the only thing that was visible to the eye was a knife she had clipped to her skirt waist. And her codename: Animator. Again, another stellar attempt on our part. We rarely used codenames anyway.

"Let's go. Time is money." Buddy said as he led us out the door.

^*^*^*^**^^**^*^*^*^*^^**^*^

Brain Wave crept closer to the monitors in the van.

Her uniform, showing a lot of her skin, was a skirt and a long sleeved jacket, the former being very short and the latter full of strategically placed holes and slits. It was gray, she found it easier to cloud people's minds with a generic shade. She didn't have any weapon except a derringer, because her powers relied on tricking the enemy, she didn't have much skill with firearms.

Repose, who was sleeping, wore an old black uniform that was rumpled and wrinkled from being slept in. It was a simple black pants, black shirt, black jacket.

Ripsaw, with his constant fascination with tough bikers, wore a leather jacket and pants, even though he kept getting new ones as his own clothes were too easily ripped up by his power.  He scorned firearms, believing his blades could solve any problem.

And Dracon. Dracon, since he was left alone, lay boredly on the floor. He was forbidden to eat people, at least those in the van with him. He wore shorts that fitted his current state of mind, bored. They were brown and almost blended in with his spikes. His snout, lined with teeth, lay open as a warning to those that got too close as he lay on the floor.

Rampage was not with them, believing them capable of dealing with this themselves. 

Brain Wave watched as the monitors showed people leaving by the front gate, going home from their busy jobs as technologists, always seeking to revolutionize their world.

Bah.

Brain Wave clapped her hands together when the last left. Now all they had to deal with was a few guards, and they could easily take care of them.

"Let's go," she ordered. They followed her out of the van and snuck around the side of the building.

*^^*^*^*^**^*^^**^*^*^*^

"I spy with my little eye…"

"You guys have been doing that game for hours." Buddy grumbled.

"We're just having fun." I sniffed. Stray sullenly looked around.

Daria returned with Julian.  "We just made the rounds and there was nothing on the horizon," she reported.

"I don't suppose they were just being paranoid?" Buddy wondered aloud.

"Hey guys-"

"I don't want to play I spy, Stray." Daria growled.

"Well, that's too bad, because I spy Trouble!"

I stared. "…That has to be the dorkiest thing you've ever said." 

*^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^**^^*^**^^*

Hmmm…Not quite as funny as I'd like, but be prepared for a super showdown between two groups next chapter!

Ripsaw will take the reviews this time! Be sure not to hand him sharp objects, ID cards or hamburger condiments.


	6. Fight on Gaptran ground

You're a good example of why some animals eat their young   
--Jim Samuels

Rogue77: Yeah, that was a lucky break for me. I couldn't figure out a good costume.  But I'm glad he looks good.

torque: Sorry I didn't catch you last chapter, your review came in just as I was updating. She can control all animals, though I'm thinking she probably wouldn't be able to control Lockheed. If I ever use him.  And animals, like Rahne in her wolf form, if they have a human mind, the message becomes garbled.

A/N:

To commemorate achieved goals, I'm going to be writing a party-fic. So, if you'd like to come, please specify as much in your review.  Thank-you all for your support!

*^^*^*^*^**^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^*

They never knew what hit them.

And neither did we.

"That's the last time we use one of Stray's weapons to get the drop on people!" I hissed to Daria. She was attaching things to the grenades she wore and trying to reload her guns at the same time.

Stray, in all of his insanity and our misfortune, pulled out the ricochet grenade launcher.  It shoots off R-rpg (ricochet rocket propelled grenade) and as soon as said grenade hits a wall it bounces off while dropping a mini explosive. It was a great idea. 

Unless it was shot at a wall with no angles.

So we both ended up getting the worse of it. And part of the fence…and the….ground…was missing.

"Where are you Rat? Come on out and fight!"

"Hey Daria, can I borrow your gun?"

"No, but you can borrow this grenade I painted blue."

"Hey! It has a bird on it! …It's pretty good."

"You only say that because your drawing skills make Stray look like the most careful man in the world."

"Give me the damn grenade."

"Some people don't know how to take criticism." She snorted as she gave me the blue grenade.

I got up and yelled. " Hey Brain Wave! I got something for ya!" I pulled out the pin and lobbed it at her head.

"Oww! Dann!"

Hell. She used her powers against me.

"Stray! Move! That grenade's live!"

"I'm gonna die!" He ran off.

"Bravery in motion," Daria commented dryly.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^^*^*

'Jean! Get the other X-men together, there is a situation at Gaptran Corporation.'

'What kind of situation, Professor?' She mentally answered, her studying forgotten.

'There are mutant signatures popping up and explosions going off everywhere. This may be a product of mutant gang war violence.'

'On it!' Jean slammed her book closed and went to raise the others.

**^*^**^*^^**^*^*^^**^*^*^^

Ripsaw had been trying to cut Julian open but was failing miserably. The natural armor Julian had made making a dent near impossible, especially with the way he moved. For someone so big he moved as agile as wind.

Repose was trying to send Kung-Fu to sleep, but couldn't catch him in one place.

Brain Wave had called in reinforcements and Daria and I were pinned down behind a generator.

Yeah, we were quite possibly screwed.

Gepetto had moved off secretly with my canines, moving around the edge to sneak on the people that had us pinned down. The people were human mercenaries. Makes me wonder, if Rampage has enough money to buy his own mercenaries, why is he bothering to take this place out.  I suppose Greed is its own reward.

 "This'll show em!" Daria began zapping grenades. She had attached wire to them. They promptly used the wire as legs and trundled out in the general direction of our human adversaries.  "That, ladies and gents, is how you make a grenade that explodes itself."

"Genius, my dear Daria," I mocked in my Sherlock voice. A couple minutes later there were several large explosions coupled with yells and the snarling of big dogs.

"I believe that was our cue." 

"After you, Animal girl."

I took off fast away from the badly damaged generator that had not blown sky high for whatever reason. Daria brought up the rear, guns blazing at the few mercenaries that had escaped walking grenades and dogs. 

"Don't you just love this job?" She yelled through the noise and smoke.

"Totally. You'd better go help Julian and Kung-Fu. I'll see if I can't round up Mr. Gimmick."  

"Good luck!" She charged towards Repose.  I took a different route, rounding the building in search of Stray, whom I had not seen for awhile.

"YAAAAAAAAH!"

Found him.

"OH crap!" I turned and started running the other way with Stray on my heels and rushing past my three canines that had followed me. And behind us, moving remarkably fast, came a monstrous twelve foot long lizard with big teeth whom we all knew as Dracon.

My dogs scattered at my command.

_Who let the lizard out?_

_I dare you to try and bite him._

Doggy said nothing and chose to keep his distance while following.

"We don't taste good! We'll give you indigestion!" Stray yelled.

"Then I'll spit you back out." Dracon said simply. 

"That's your answer for everything!" I accused, barely keeping three feet away from the snapping jaws.

"Outta here!" Stray said as he shot out his tentacles, wrapping a few around me and pushing away from Dracon. Unfortunately, his tentacles were still in the ground while he landed us twenty feet away and Dracon chomped on them, trying to pull Stray back to him. I grabbed Stray's arm and started pulling back.

_TUG OF WAR!_

_We should help, It's illegal for lizards to play._

Cassius and Brutus seized his shirt and pants, pulling with me. Doggy seized his arm with me and we started pulling.

"Oh this is great, I'm going to be torn apart so I won't be eaten, OWWW!" He yelped as one of the tentacles in Dracon's mouth snapped, causing short outs in several of the nearby tentacles.

"You snake! You know how long it'll take me to repair those?"

A loud whistling sound came from above as a big jet with and X on it landed next to us. All of us, including Dracon, froze and stared at the newcomers.

The hatch opened…

And out walked several of the people we saw at the mall, Mr Bravery, the blonde haired guy, the red haired flying girl, a girl with a ponytail, a furry guy I'd never seen before, a gothic girl, and a big guy that reminded me of a mean canine. 

"Uhh….Can we help you?" I asked.

"Why are you fighting?" The red haired girl said. "You're actions could hurt innocent people!"

"Well….I'm fighting against the giant lizard because he's trying to eat one of my best friends, he's not fighting because he's being used as a tug of war rope and the big lizard wants to eat my friend."

"Why are you attacking each other? Shouldn't you be trying to understand each other? All mutants have to work together!" She persisted.

I stared at her, then stared at Dracon, who was a bit dumbstruck. I think. He still looked a little bored.  I turned back to her.

"What exactly are you on?"

"Nihahahahahaha! Uh-oh." Gepetto just ran in to come save us, took one look at Dracon and turned around and left.  

"If that was our reinforcements…" Stray said haltingly.

The big canine guy took charge now. 

"I don't know why you guys are fighting, and I don't care. But you're gonna stop right now."

"Get 'im!"

Daria, and Julian charged out of the night and hit Dracon head on.

And bounced off.

"Maybe we should have come up with a plan." Buddy commented, walking out of the smoke.

"Thanks for the idea, Kung-Fu." Daria grumbled. She got up and patted herself off.  She stared at the people that came off the jet.

"What are they doing here?"

"About to get eaten." Dracon dropped the tentacles, and lunged for her. Julian yanked her up of the ground and pulled off a leap over Dracon. Dracon ploughed right through and tried to sink his teeth into Buddy, but he was more than ready and jumped over him, making it look all too easy.

Stray, free from the tug of war, dug into his bag and pulled out some weird weapon.  I began to have misgivings when he started loading a shell into it, and started running away when he aimed it at the charging Dracon.

The red haired girl was flying over, trying to stop Stray. That wouldn't do. Only members of our group take out Stray. I pulled the energy, the power, into my hands.

The power beats in my heart and rushes through my veins like my own pulse. It is always there, though I often repress its power. But when I use it, the effects are more often than not deadly.

But I didn't need that much, I pulled the power into a small concentration and shot it out like a mist that was moved by a hundred mile wind. It hit her hard and she dropped lie a stone.

Apparently that wasn't allowed. The others jumped into the fray.

*^*^^*^**^^**^*^***^*^^**^*^*

Things are about to get more complicated as the X-men jump in and the bad guys regroup.

Julian is taking the reviews! 


	7. Fights and Uncertain Happenings

I must confess, I was born at a very early age.   
Groucho Marx

Rogue77: Well, I figured he would just about be bite sized, so it might be a good idea for him to keep away from Dracon, even if he's wood.

torque: The more the merrier! As for your questions, I'll try to answer them next chapter. And thank you very much for the booking!

Dragonet: *gives plushie Dracon* I'm afraid that's the best I can do.  As for the Acolytes, bear with me, they'll show themselves soon enough.

Laureate: Will you settle for this very cute plushie Stray? Consider an early Christmas present. * gives Stray plushie*

^**^*^*^^*^**^*^*^*^**^^**^^**^*^*^

They didn't scatter when Buddy got into a fist fight with the mean canine dude.

They didn't scatter when Gepetto and Daria started hurling stuff at them in the form of grenades, rocks, anything sharp and heavy they could grab.

But when Stray's ground missile accidentally flipped over and came back toward him, EVERYONE got out of the way.

KAAAA-BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!

"It wasn't supposed to do that!" Stray assured us over the explosion.

"Oh, I like, feel so much better!" Someone complained next to me. In the rush to get away from the missile, no one checked who they were taking cover with. I was right next to a girl with light brown hair, slightly mussed, one of the new arrivals.   She had this goody girl look about her, the kind you wouldn't expect to be fighting amidst explosions and madness. 

Great. I was next to Valley High.

We both froze for a second.

"Hey," she said, "You're like, almost my age."

"And there the similarity ends," I announced as I rolled away and got to my feet.

"Why are you fighting? Really?"

"Money. It's all about money. And that's the real world. Kid." I grinned.

"There are more important things than money! What about your friends?"

I stared at her. "My friend almost blew me up. Do you think I'm going to be feeling charitable to him anytime soon?"

"Good point."

"Great. I'm glad you see it my way." I hauled back my fist and tried to punch her, but I fell through her.  "Damn." 

I struggled to my feet.  "Okay…one of us is going to pay for that. I'm not sure who yet—"

"AAHHHHHH!" Ripsaw and the furry guy went flying over my head.

"I thought Jul-Fang took care of him.  And when did Ripsaw learn to fly?"

"Ripsaw?" The girl asked.

"Yeah…He's a nice guy, you'd just love him. If you're willing to deal with deep seated idiotism." 

"I have to go see if Kurt is okay!" She ran through me (an incredibly disconcerting experience) towards the furry guy, whom had to be Kurt.

"Wow. My distance is better." Someone said behind me.

"Yeah, but I think that eighty foot punt was pretty good. Where's Dracon?"

"Stray put him on a roof. Lost a few tentacles, but we deem it a necessary sacrifice."

"We?"

"Gepetto and I." Julian grinned wolfishly.  I glanced across the battlefield. Brain Wave's lackeys, our group, and the newbies were in a huge free for all.

"Shall we jump back in?" 

"After you." I said, gesturing for him to go ahead. He leaped forward, streaking across the ground to hit Repose and the once again mobile Ripsaw as they cornered the blonde kid against the wall. I took a different route, moving towards Buddy as he kept scant inches away from calls that threatened to tear him limb from limb.  Daria, having wandered into the parking lot and attacking people with animated cars, was fighting Dracon and Red hair at the same time.  Stray had Mr. Bravery and the gothic chick.  The valley was still by Kurt, and trying to wake him up. No problem there.

I waited until the big guy's back was to me to strike. I know I wouldn't stand a chance if I didn't get the drop on him, and even that was risky beyond belief. 

I leaped forward and leaped onto his back. It startled him enough to not skewer Buddy as the Asian was feinting back.

"GERROUF ME!"

"Learn proper English!" I yelled back. He reached up his claws to cut me, but got kicked in the stomach by Buddy, and judging by the weight, his foot felt like a ton. I got the wind literally kicked out of me, even though I was nowhere near that foot. I tried to tighten my grip, but the guy just seemed to get stronger. He grabbed my arm and dragged me off his back, holding me several inched off the ground, glaring me in the face.

"Uhhhh…..Hi! I'm…so…dead…BUDDY! A LITTLE FREAKIN' HELP HERE!!!!!!!!"

Buddy jumped over me and landed on him like a ton. I was thrown backwards, landing on something soft.

Furry.

I jumped straight up in the air, and my canines, who had been taking care of little incidents all over, hauled over to where I was. There were beside me even before I turned around to face Kurt and Valley.

"It isn't nice to scare people," I growled. The dogs mirrored my response.  The two didn't look nearly as confident when three massive dogs were growling at them. Then again, I don't know who does.

Buddy was watching with general interest. He was sitting cross legged on the mean guy's back, and judging by the way he was struggling but couldn't move, Buddy must have been pretty heavy.

_You say the word sweetheart, they never mess with you again._

_We'll make it as clean or as messy as you want it baby._

(I'll keep that in mind, boys.) I patted the massive rottwielers' necks. 

"Ah, I see, your power, it has something to do with animals, ya?"

"And other things." I glowered. The fact that this was a war zone just didn't seem to want to sink into their thick heads.

'GRRRRRRRRRRRRR……..' Doggy began snarling at a space with no one in it. I rose an eyebrow at him, and the thought crossed my mind that he might be hearing things, but rarely was he wrong. I cursed myself lightly for not bringing a knife or something to defend myself.

I started backing up. There was no telling what Doggy was looking at. And I sure as hell didn't want to be near it. The other mutants had drawn closer together, just as my dogs began to bristle and rub shoulders, forming a wall between me and whatever it was.

CRAAAAAAAAACKK!

It was a sudden, dull pain. I staggered uncertainly, not really knowing what happened. I heard Buddy yell something that I couldn't understand, and I heard shouts. Something about retreats. My body felt strange, like it was going numb. 

I didn't even feel pain when I fell.

^*^**^^**^^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^*^**^*^^**^^*^*

"DAHK!" Buddy yelled, catching the attention of the others, who had been chasing their rivals and trying to get the newcomers under control.

"Gepetto! Get over there!" Daria hissed as the car she had been animating was thrown away by a psychic blast. Or at least she thought that was what it was.

Stray and Julain broke away from there respective battles (by amazing feats of luck—either the opponents ran away, fell into a ditch, or by some mishap were deposited on a roof.) in the direction of Buddy's yell. They were thrown backwards by the body of buddy, who had been thrown with great force by the angry hairy guy with claws.  

As they untangled themselves in an attempt to chase them again, the sound of an engine fired up and the jet flew overhead.  Angry howls pierced the air. 

Daria raced over to them.

"What happened?!"

Buddy looked up sorrowfully.

"They took Dahk with them. I think she's dead."

**^**^^**^*^^*^**^^*^**^^**^*^*^^*^*

Being wooden did nothing for him.

Gepetto hung gamely onto the tail of the plane, hoping against hope that they wouldn't run into a freak storm. He really didn't need mold in his joints.

"Daria is gonna kill me if I don't come back in one piece," he grumbled, even though the thought was improbable, since he was made of wood and therefore could just have new parts made for him.

But if he kept that in mind, he wouldn't have anything to grumble about.

*^^**^*^^*^**^^*^**^^*^**^*^*^

"How is she?" 

"She's hurt bad."

Jean tried to contact the Professor, to get Mr. McCoy ready for a wounded person.

Scott looked at Logan. "Was it a good idea to pull her from her group?"

Kitty glanced at him. "Yeah, she wasn't exactly nice."

"She got hurt. Good chance they won't care for her, might not even go looking for her." Logan grunted.

"I hope we can get her settled in." Jean said. "Hank is waiting."

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Daria will take the reviews!  Remember, just because she looks cute and mostly innocent….


	8. Silence and Noise

SHOUT-OUTS

torque: Here you go! *gives pushie Stray* I don't quite know just yet. I suppose I could mix it up a little with the X-men, but in this chapter she's less than amused.

Dragonet: I'm going to try to make their appearance within the next few chapters.

Rogue77: I can't wait to read that story. And I believe I said it was alright with me.

^*^*^**^^*^*^**^^*^*^*^*^*^*

Silence.

A thousand voices are silent.  There is no one.

I struggled upright.  Where are they?  I set my voice out, trying to find them. They aren't there.

Alone.

The room is white.  It is close. I skitter up against the wall. The wall is safe.

They can't attack your back when you're against something.

My chest hurts. I don't know why. I look down.

My clothes have been replaced with hospital whites.  They're ugly. I hate them.

Where is the exit?

I look around hurriedly. There is a door. White, like the rest of the room. I run over to open it.

Locked.

I slam my back against the wall hard. To keep myself exposed was to die.

'Good morning.'

 I jerk my head up and look around. There. There is a camera in the corner. Attached to the ceiling.

'My name is Professor Xavier. You are safe. There is nothing to fear.'

I gave no reply to the disembodied voice.

'What is your name?'

Again, I have no answer. It is better to be silent when dealing with the enemy.

'You have nothing to fear from us. My people saved you. You were badly injured.'

So he was in league with Mr. Bravery and the others.

'We can help you. Show you how to use your powers for good.'

I rose my hand up.  Then I made a rude gesture to the camera and went back to the door. Stray would be able to open the door.

'Danielle.'

I jumped and turned around and glared at the camera.

'Yes. I can read your mind. I know you are looking to escape.'

I went down into a crouch.

'You're mentality is product of your mutation. As the situation changes, your mentality changes, yet your mind presides.'

I charged forward and jumped on the bed and ripped the camera off the wall, ripping out the wires.

'Was that totally necessary?'

"I thought it was." I threw the camera down. It was useless for their purpose.

'I see it will take a lot of work for us to see eye to eye.'

I spat on the floor.

"Don't hold your breath."

^*^**^*^*^^*^**^^*^**^^*^^*^**^

"She's got guts." Wolverine shook his head.

"Yes." Professor Xavier sighed. "It's good that I locked off her powers mentally. She has nothing but malice towards us."

"Considering how she was raised, how can we blame her?" Jean asked.

"How much work will it take to turn her around?" Scott thought aloud.

"Apparently a lot. Wolverine, she's trying to tear apart her bed to make a fire." 

"I'm on it." He sighed and walked out of the room.

*^*^^*^*^*^*^**^^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^^**^

Gepetto ran around the edge of the property. The house was huge. And there were people all over the place.

He hated humans.

Except for Daria. Daria was a paragon of all humans.

And Danny was okay. If she wasn't, he wouldn't be risking his wooden neck. 

But he didn't know where she was. She was here. But where?

"Whoa!!" 

He jerked around to see a twelve year old boy.  The boy stared back at him.

"What are you?"

"A puppet, stupid!"

"Hey! You can talk!"

"Amazing ain't it?"

"What are you doing here? Are you lost?"

"No. I gotta make a phone call."

"There's one in the mansion."

"I prefer payphones. So damn clean."

He ran away faster than the boy could catch up and disappeared.

*^^**^^*^*^*^**^^*^**^^**^*^^**^*^

Jamie ran into the study.

"Professor! I just saw a talking puppet!"

"A talking puppet?"

Scott jumped up frightened. "How did he get here?!"

"He just ran off the property."

"We need to stop him."

"Get the X-men together."

^*^*^**^^*^*^*^**^^**^*^^**^^*

After scaring a poor woman out of her change, Gepetto was hanging upside down in a phone booth, dialing a number that was supposed to be secret, but because of his powers of persuasion (and his blades) he managed to get it.

The phone rang several times before someone picked up.

"…."

"Hey, Gepetto here. I know that's you on the other line, mystery boy."

"How did you get this number?"

"I had some help. Hey, you wouldn't be tracing this number, would ya?"

"Yes."

"Good. 'Cause I dunno where I am. Listen up, this is important."

"Why should I? I'm not at your guys' beck and call, you know."

"Because I'm the only one here that can get help. The others are still hangin around our last job, tryin to figure out where we are. I ain't got a phone number for them. And I got trouble."

"What kind?"

"Danny might be dead. But I don't know. And she's being held in this mansion I can't get in."

"Did you try?"

"Hey! Don't be snapping at me. I have a severe case of jetlag and…hell. You got a lock on me?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I'm gonna have to call you back."

Gepetto hung up the phone fast and bolted down the alleyway, with the blonde haired kid with the spikes following him.

^*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^*^**^^**^

"Are they still disoriented?" Buddy asked.

Julian shook his head. "It's as if she just fell off the face of the earth. They can't hear her."

Daria wasn't doing very well either. She missed Gepetto, and Danny. Danny was her best friend.  Gepetto was her baby.

And someone was going to get a severe butt kicking.

Stray, his tentacles badly damaged from getting chewed on, were busy repairing themselves.

The plate on his back was placed after years of surgery. They were self inflicted. His true power, machine telepathy, made them his weapon of choice. 

The plate, covering his lower back, connected directly to his nervous system, making the tentacles, which numbered around seventy at least, more in tune to his mental commands. The tentacles were small in diameter, but incredibly strong.

The tentacles all carried a special device of his own creation. They were repair bots, but incredibly small. They spread into his tentacles, totally passive until some injury was made. Then they sprang into action and repaired themselves and the tentacles.

And it was taking a long time to repair.

But when they did, someone was going to be sorry.

*^**^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^^*^*^**^*^

Past the blaring cars. Past the street signs. Past the surprised pedestrians.

Into Bayville.  The speed slowed. Now came the searching.

The car was left by the curb. It was a rental anyway.

There were loud sirens going off.  Someone had called in on the speeding car.

There was little the police could do. After all, how does one identify someone you can't remember?

*^*^^**^*^^^**^*^^*^**^^*

I bet you all know who that is!

Stray will take the reviews! Be careful around his inventions, they tend to be a bit touchy.


	9. Escape and Arcane

Shout-Outs!

Radical-Seto: Yeah, I was going for a darker version of her in this universe.

Rogue77: Okay! *gives Gepetto plushies* I hope your minions like the mini Gepetto plushies. You can have the full size.

torque: Oh, they'll have a little bit of history. I'm glad I cleared it up for you. Don't worry, the little metal things don't affect anyone but Stray. Unless he gets angry.

Laureate: Actually, they were just supposed to be super helpful, but they came out this way. Still pretty interesting.  Things will even out in a while though.

Raliena: I took your suggestion to heart, and did exactly that, even if she didn't get too far.

Dragonet: Yes I know, it's just a mystery….heh heh.  

^**^*^^**^^*^*^*^**^^*^**^*^*^^*

Amara and Jubilee looked at the door apprehensively. Behind it was the girl the X-men had saved a day ago. She was not doing well. So far she had ripped down the camera and tried to destroy her bed to burn the door down. And scratched Mr. Logan's face when he stopped her.  And they had to give her some food.

Amara knocked tentatively on the door. There was no answer.

"Hello?" she tried, and knocked on the door harder.

"GET LOST!" Someone yelled within. 

"Whoa." Jubilee blinked a few times. 

"We have lunch for you!" Amara tried to sound cheerful.

"Yeah? Well shove it down your throats. I ain't hungry."

"It isn't ain't, it is am not." Amara said before she could catch herself.

The occupant was silent for a moment.

"Alright. Bring it in. PLEASE."

Jubilee pushed Amara forward a bit. "The professor said she can't do anything. But you got the firepower, you go first."

"Thanks." She said, rolling her eyes. She unlocked the door and opened it slowly.

The girl sat on the floor. She was hunched over slightly, like she was waiting for them to make a mistake.

"I'm Amara. This is Jubilee. We're mutants." She said gesturing to herself and Jubilee.

"I never would have guessed." She spat. She had not moved from her spot.

"Here's your lunch. The Professor said that if you try to understand us then he'll let you meet the other members. It'll be fun to meet someone new."

"Yeah. Fun." The girl's eyes fell on the plate Amara was carrying. "What is that?"

"It's a salad."

"I can see that. Why are you giving me a salad?"

"You talk to animals, right? We thought it might be offensive if we gave you animal meat."

"Great." She said dryly. "I've been kidnapped by political correctness."

"We didn't kidnap you! You were hurt!" Amara protested.

"Yes, but I feel a lot better now."

"See? That's because the Professor helped you. And he still wants too."

"I don't think you catch what I mean. You left the door open."

She leaped forward and hit Amara hard in the stomach with her shoulder, knocking the wind out of her and driving her back into Jubilee.  She leaped up and tore out of the room.

"Professor!" Amara screamed as soon as she got her breath back.

^**^^**^^*^**^^**^^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^

It was like running blind. No one was speaking, I couldn't tell what was what.

My sight and hearing is just like any other humans. But it is the sixth sense of the animals, whom I constantly hear, that allows me to have an almost uncanny ability to anticipate obstacles. Without it, I have the sense f walking through a very cold fog. My limbs are slower, my mind is slower, my reactions are almost unresponsive. And the knowledge I get from the voices about things I can't see isn't there anymore.

It stinks.

I ran down the hall, tripping over bolts of metal and railings. The fact that I should have been passing these with ease showed how much I relied on my mutation.  After a while it got easier as I adjusted my sight to my running.

There was an elevator ahead. I hit it full speed and pushed the button to open it. The doors opened and I slid inside and pushed the button to go up. There was no elevator music, of which I was grateful. I don't think I could take that. 

I shifted my weight side to side as I waited for the elevator to open. The numbers scaled upward. It stopped at the one and slid open.

And there stood a whole bunch of mutants.

We stared at each other.  

I moved forward. They moved back a few feet. But they kept themselves in a solid wall, preventing my escape.

'Hello Danny. These are the New Recruits. They won't hurt you. Please don't be difficult. We are trying to help.'

"Behold the sparrow." I mused. "You may try to help it, but it neither wants nor needs your help. It knows that life is short, and yet being so small, it would rather live and die wild than be indebted to the hands of humans."

'Are you comparing yourself to this animal?'

"You be the judge, doc." I leaped forward and tackled the nearest mutant, a Brazilian boy.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^^*^***^*^^^**^^*

"Can't we talk about this?" Gepetto flipped onto a car as spikes peppered the air above him. He'd been running from this guy for several hours. 

"Stand still and we'll talk all you'd like!" the boy shot some spikes from his wrists, breaking a few windows.

"Sorry, I wasn't raised stupid." He jumped off the top of the car and ran across the street, barely dodging cars.

The boy ran after him, using a spike to vault over the street.  Gepetto barely slipped past him as he ran down the sidewalk. 

Gepetto tore past trashcans with the boy fast on his heels.  

He suddenly realized something. He wouldn't be able to run away from this guy straight out. So he would need to get someplace where he could make turns. And the alleyway ahead was looking pretty good.

He poured every inch of legs he had into making that turn—

--And ran into somebody.

But apparently spike-boy had a problem too, because he hit the pavement hard.

Gepetto looked up.

"It's about time you showed up!"

"I had to lose some stragglers."

He was tall, wearing a black trench coat, black pants, a grey shirt, and a black hat, with a wide brim. Under the hat poked out copperish brown hair that almost went to his shoulder. His eyes, when he raised his head up high enough for one to see, were pale green. 

Gepetto glanced at the prone body of spike-boy. "Sheesh, Arcane, what did you do? Clothesline him?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Well. Good job."

"Thanks"

^**^*^*^*^^**^^*^*^*^***^*^*^*^*

Daria was messing around with bits of trash, making little contraptions. If all went well, when she gave them life they could fly around and perhaps find her errant friends.

Buddy and Julian were spread out, trying to gather information from the countryside. Gaptran Corp had given them the whole sum they had agreed on, and were there for them to get information from should they need it. Needless to say, they had been very happy that their merchandise had not been stolen.

Stray had the best idea. He had hacked into several satellite systems, looking for the particular signature of the jet.

"Bingo."

*^*^*^^**^**^*^^*^**^^*^*^*^*^*

"GO TO HELL!" I screeched as Mean canine dude hauled me up over his head.

"I go, I'm taking you too, kiddo!"

"Let me go!!!!!"

I had been caught after I broke through the line, who weren't using their powers, and was trying to claw his face as he kept my feet away from the floor. Unfortunately, he seemed to heel as soon as I hurt him.

Talk about bad luck.

"I get that you're upset. And that's great, but you're not going anywhere." He snarled at me. I responded by scratching him across the face. He glowered at me.

"Will you STOP that!?!"

"No! Not until you let me go." I struggled as much as I could, wishing I could just drop him like a stone with my power, but I couldn't use it. The pulse, which had always been strong with it, was now irregular and uncontrolled. It was making me dizzy. And being off the ground helpless wasn't helping.

"I HATE YOU!" I screamed furiously.

"The feelings getting to be mutual!" He snarled.

'Logan! Get her back to the room! She needs to calm down!'

He dragged me into the elevator and back to my room. I clawed at him, punched him, kicked him, but he wouldn't yield. He tossed me back into the room and locked the door. I attacked the door and roared with fury.

"LET ME OUT!"

*^*^^**^*^*^^**^*^*^*^*^*^^**^

See? You don't use your powers on the semi-insane animal speaker and you have to call in Wolverine to drag her away from the fight.

Buddy is taking reviews! He shall take in reviews like motor oil takes in the blind moth…


	10. Straitjackets and Kidnappings

SHOUT-OUTS!

Radical-Seto: She didn't. But she did make a lot of fuss. Yes, Arcane is one of my favorites.

torque: Well, I took your suggestion for a straitjacket, Maybe an attempt of psychic soothing later.  No, the gang is coming for them.

Dragonet: Well, gasoline works as well…

Realm9: If I tell you now, it probably wouldn't be a surprise. But knowing my writing style, the chances are good.

Rogue77: I updated fast, like you asked. And Evan gets into more trouble with the infamous Arcane. 

**^*^*^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^**^^*

I sat quietly in the middle of the floor. I had restraints on after I pulled off a hunk of the Beast Man's hair.  I never knew strait jackets had such calming effects on people.

Or it could be my pulse. It was still strange. That's what the blue man was trying to figure out. Why.

Of course, I wouldn't let him examine me without a fight. It didn't work out so well for me though. He was a lot stronger than he looked. Which was an accomplishment.

My pulse was still beating irregularly. It made me woozy. I think maybe whatever hit me may have been bad…poison or something.

And so hungry. Not that I would admit it.  

I stretched my back a little, but couldn't get the full effect. Jackets are restraining.  

But there is always a way out.

*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^

"What do you mean, Evan never came back?"

"We looked all over for him!" Jean tried to pacify Storm. This was not working, however.

"Then look again! I want my nephew found!"

"Peace, Ororo. I'm sure he is fine." Professor Xavier said as he came into the room.  "I'm sure that he will show up, and there is always Cerebro."

"Yes, of course." She said worriedly.

^**^*^*^*^*^^*^*^**^^**^^**^*^*^*^*^*^

Evan was bound and gagged on the floor of a dinghy looking apartment. Voices floated above him.

"So why did we bring this guy again?"

"Exchange."

"Oh, like a prisoner exchange? One hostage for another?"

"Yes."

Evan tried to pull some spikes out of his skin to destroy his bonds, but found that they wouldn't come. 

"I think he's awake."

Footsteps fell close to him, and he struggled to look up. It was a dark figure.

"I'm glad you're awake. Don't try to use your power. That," he pointed to the collar on Evan's neck, " keeps it in stasis. Trying to break that bond may be hazardous to your health."

Evan glared at the figure. Why were they doing this?

"You're probably wondering why you're here. Your people have someone I want. I want her back. And you're going to get her for me."

The figure knelt down. Evan could see burning pale green eyes under the brim of the hat.

"Whether you like it…or not."

*^**^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^^**^*^*^*^^*^*^*^**^*

The car was screaming down the interstate. Daria's search drones were ready to look for Gepetto and Danny, just as soon as they got to their destination.

Bayville.

Stray was at the wheel, urging the car to even faster speeds, weaving in and out of practice in a way only a master of electronics could.

Julian was sitting low in the seat. He was sacrificing his comfort for the cramped van space and a chance to get to Bayville faster than his wings could take him.  

Buddy was reading, but one could tell that he too was anticipating the confrontation ahead. Especially since he hadn't turned a page in twenty minutes.

It was only a matter of time.

"STRAY! KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!"

And skill.

*^*^*^*^^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^**^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^

The Acolyte manor was silent. All eyes were upon their leader. 

Maneto dropped a bunch of pictures on the table for the Acolytes to see. 

"These are new mutants that have been sighted. Note the girl with the green eyes. I believe her to be in Xavier's custody."

"Wow. What's comin' out of the sheilah's hands? It looks like mist."

"Oui, Lookit the chere wid de puppet, she lookin wicked."

"This one looks like dragon." Piotr picked up the picture.

"Yes. These are all fairly powerful mutants. They will join the team. Turn your attention to the girl with the 'mist'. She is the first target. We will attack Xavier's school and take her by force. She will see the glory of my way."

Magneto left them to delve into the pictures and find out what they needed to know of these mutants.

Piotr picked up another picture. "This one is a child."

"Oui, so this one." Remy, the demon eyed Cajun, showed him a picture of a young boy.

"Lots of new mutants to choose from eh?"

*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^^*^*^**^

My shoulder cracked loudly as I dislocated it.

"Oww…….That…really…hurt…"

I slid out of the jacket. It took a lot of effort and swearing under my breath. I got loose and pushed my shoulder back in. That was even more painful than pulling it out. But now was not the time to worry about my body.

It was brain storming time.

The last time I went up against the canine man it had ended badly for me. I couldn't get past him, an he didn't even have to use his claws to get me back in this room. Blue man was a bust too, he picked me up like a ragdoll and treated me like a bad kid at K-mart.  I hate being treated like a kid.

I was severely at odds with just about every mutant. I still couldn't use my power. I was still a little woozy. And now my shoulder hurt.

I concluded one thing.

"This day sucks."

*^*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Gepetto will take the reviews! Remember to be careful if you try to pick him up…


	11. Clash of Mutants

Shout-Outs!

Rogue77: I've never plaed that game, but it sounds fun! Yeah, dislocating shoulders always give me the heebie jeebies.

Radical-Seto: Well, things are about to get real nasty between those groups, so we'll know soon.

Dragonet: Well, traditionally that would be true, but Danny isn't above the sytem of nature, she's part of it. Dogs eat rabbits. Rabbits eat lettuce. Fish eat bugs. Danny is omnivorous, and eats whatever she wants. 

Realm9: I think that's where it's spiraling too. Of course, they may never play football in Bayville again…

Raliena: They won't help him this time, she's wearing ugly hospital whites. But I can give you plushies! *gives all plushies.*  

^**^^*^*^*^*^*^^*^^*^*

Ororo jumped to the phone when it rang. She had been hoping for some word from her nephew all night.

"Hello? Evan?"

"…."

"Evan?"

"Is that his name?"

The voice was calm, but betraying no hint of emotion.  She gripped the phone tightly.

"…Are you still there?"

"What have you done with Evan?" She demanded.

"Nothing."

"Let him go, I swear, as soon as I find out who you are—"

"Ororo?" Logan looked surprised as he walked in.

"Who are you?" She yelled into the phone, taking no notice of him. Logan walked up swiftly and pulled the phone from her.

"Who is this?" He said gruffly.

"Funny, your voice was so much lighter before." The voice responded with a hint of amusement.

"He has Evan!" Ororo hissed into Logan's ear.

"What you want with the porcupine, bub?"

"Nothing. I want something else."

"And what's that?"

"The girl."

"What girl?"

"Don't play me for a fool. Your comrade's life lies in the balance."

"What do you know about this?" Wolverine snarled.

"Everything. I know you have a young girl that you kidnapped. So I kidnapped someone you know. And I'm sure you can understand the rest."

"We didn't kidnap anyone."

"I know people who would say differently."

Logan sighed angrily. "What do you want? Prisoner exchange?"

"You're a smart man."

"What's going on?" Ororo asked. Logan shook his head.

"Where is this gonna take place? The docks?"

"The docks…no. I think we'll let it take place at the old football fields.  You and the girl, we'll deal from there."

"How do I know you ain't gonna double cross me?"

"You don't."

"That's not going to work."

"Neither is the porcupine. That is, unless I get the girl."

Logan growled into the phone. The voice didn't show any sort of intimidation. 

"Have a nice day."

^*^*^*^**^**^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^^*^***^^*^*

The car screamed to a halt next to a café in town. Buddy and Daria got out and began searching the area. They didn't have to go very far, however.

"Daria!"

Daria whirled around to see Gepetto running to them.  She squealed and scooped him up in a hug.  

"You're okay!"

"Yep! And Arcane knew you were going to be here! He sent me to get you guys. He wants you to ditch the van and come over to his apartment."

"We have a problem. Julian will not fit in." Buddy pointed out.

"It's in a secluded part of town. It's all good."

*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^^*^**^*^*^

So sleepy…

I was lying on the floor, trying to figure out what was wrong. My skin seemed to be turning gray before my eyes.  Then again, everything was looking gray. I felt thin and weak.

Maybe I just needed a little sleep…

*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^

"Oh, it was perfect! Alter her perception so she couldn't see me, shoot her with this little bullet, it dissolves in her bloodstream and wham! She's six feet under!"

"You spent so much time talking that guy into making you special bullets for that girl, you could've ripped her apart already!" Hyena hissed angrily.

Hyena stood six feet tall, with heavily spotted fur. She looked quite a bit like her namesake, and she stood on two feet hunched over. She was mean and short tempered and had the strength to make it dangerous. She didn't have any healing factor, but she did have a speed and teeth to make everything think twice about messing with her. Shorts and a t-shirt was all she claimed to her name.

Brain Wave glared back at her. "I want her to suffer for what she did. She deserves to die without knowing why!"

"So you use an incredibly hypothetical disintegrating bullet to get the job done?" 

"What do you know?" Brain Wave soured.

"Just think—All that money you put into this, and there is a huge chance it might just not work."

"Shut-up!" Brain Wave snarled.

*^^*^**^^**^*^*^*^**^*^*^^*^**^*^*^*^*

Wolverine shouldered the girl as he stepped into the field. She had fallen asleep and all tries to wake her had failed.

The X-men were hidden in the shadows, even though he had forbidden them to. They had thought to sneak after him, but he knew they were there.  

He stood on the fifty, waiting for the mysterious caller to show himself. The wind changed direction suddenly, and he caught the scent of the porcupine.

Logan looked over. There, walking towards him from the goal, was a figure in black, dragging the porcupine after him.

Logan waited until they were ten feet apart.  The figure stopped and dropped Evan.

"What a beautiful night." The figure said. Logan couldn't see his face very well.

"Cut to the chase. Why do you want this girl?"

"Your business is not to know. Your business is to get your boy scout back and hand over the girl."

"She's sick."

"I can see that. If she wasn't, you'd be in a world of hurt."

"You don't care about her. Why do you want her?"

"Enough." The figure said harshly. " I don't have time for this."

Logan unshouldered the girl. The figure walked forward and pulled her away from him. Logan moved past him to Evan. He pulled off the gag.

"Logan, he's got people all over this place!" Evan shouted as soon as he got the gag off. Wolverine snarled and brought out his claws, but the figure had already hit the steps carrying the girl up the stands.

Logan slashed the ropes from Evan and took off after the figure. A sudden explosion in the visiting stands saw Cyclops tangling with a massive furred mutant.

Logan took off up the steps. He wouldn't get away.

^*^*^*^**^^*^*^*^**^^**^*^^^^*^*

Rogue was about to cut off the dark figure when she came face to face with Daria.  Then she got punched.

"Arcane is with us. We take care of our own, babe."

"Niheeheehee…"

Rogue got up and was about to say something back when a flaming dragon flew overhead.

"What the?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Pyro was on the stands above, flamethrowers creating intricate displays.

"Hey! I'm the only one allowed to laugh evil around here!" Gepetto yelled angrily. Then he ran away because Pro pointed the flamethrowers at him.

"Wow. He's kinda crazy.  He's not my type though."  Daria mused. "I like 'em tall and dark. And furry."

Rogue stared at her. "Furry?"

Daria winked at her.  

*^*^^*^*^**^*^^**^^*^^***^*^*^*^

Buddy was in the middle of big trouble. The telepathic Redhead had been his first enemy. Then the big cat-like man caught him off guard and sent him flying down the steps. And those were a lot of steps.

Buddy hit the steps hard before he was able to shift his weight. He managed to upright himself.

The big man was threatening the red head, trying to jump up and catch her.  This perturbed Buddy.

So of course he had to jump back into the fight.

*^*^*^^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^^

Stray was dividing himself between the valley girl, a furry teleporter, and a metal man that had just shown up.

"Multitasking is fun!" He yelled as he picked up the teleporter and flung him across the field. Or would have, if he hadn't teleported.  He kept tentacles as far away from the Valley girl as possible, she seemed to like shorting him out. And the metal man was trying to grab his tentacles and hold them, but he got picked up off the ground and thrown across the railing into the stands.  

But he didn't hit.

The metal man floated back to the ground. The teleporter and valley both jerked their attention to the air. He did too.

A man in a purple cape came floating down.

"Greetings. My name is Magneto."

^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^***^*^*

Hyena will take reviews today! Be careful, she's grumpy.


	12. Escape and Dinner

SHOUT-OUTS!

Rogue77: Here it is! After long last I have updated. Arcane a macho man? Hmm…I'm not sure that was what I was going for, but that's all good. 

torque: If Magneto didn't have an advantage then he wouldn't be one of the most feared men in the world. But don't worry. Things are going to get more interesting from here on out.

Dragonet: I decided that Hezibah should be given a nice vacation. I'm glad I shed some light.

Laureate: As for the teams, there really isn't any semblance of teams yet for the new mutants. There will be teams later. As for the X-men, well…more on them later.  Mmm…pecan pie…

A/N

I'm sorry for not updating in what…a week? A little less than a week. I was going to just take Thanksgiving off, but then I got sick on Turkey day and I got really run down for the next two days so my brain turned to mush and I couldn't have written a story if you gave me the entire script and told me to type it onto the computer. So I spent most of that time sleeping. But today I feel a lot better and I'm going to try and get myself back into the swing of things. 

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

I opened my eyes.

The image was blurry at first, but the world pulled itself together. I was lying on my back on very cold concrete. And I was hungry. And irritated.

I got up slowly. Judging by the silence, there was no one next to me. I looked around.

I was in an office. I walked over to the door, which had been jimmied open. I opened it slowly.

I had a good view of the field from here.

There was a guy in a purple cape on the field. He was pointing at Stray, who wasn't moving. The others, that I could see, were being held back by other mutants I didn't recognize.

I walked out of the offices. I was so tired of this. 

*^*^*^*^^**^^**^^^*^*^**^^**^

"You will join us or die." 

"Screw you!" Stray growled as he tried to pull his tentacles back under his control. The mutant was keeping them from moving around.

Magneto was about to make the tentacles break when a sudden screech of pain caught his attention. He whirled around to see John drop like a stone and a girl walking towards him.

"Oh man…you better get out of here, buddy, she looks ticked." Stray grinned.

Magneto smiled grimly. "Ah yes. The target of Xavier's. She will make a perfect addition to my acolytes."

"Don't bet on it." Stray struggled.

Magneto threw him away into the stands. Stray hit the middle rows hard. Daria and Julian came to his aid. 

Magneto floated over to the girl.

"I have chosen you for the honor of working for me. Will you join the Acolytes?"

The girl stared at him for a moment, then slowly grinned.

"I'll join you…when I see hell freeze over. I'll see you there." She raised her hand.

^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^

I gave him a big dose of power. He fell and landed on his knees. That sort of dose should have laid him out like a corpse, but obviously he was tougher than he looked.  I considered hitting him again but Arcane grabbed my shoulders and pulled me away from him. I was a little annoyed. But then a couple explosions went off behind us and I decided discretion was the better part of valor.

"What was that?" I yelled over the noise.

"I had Stray line the place with explosives and smoke bombs just in case. But I just realized he had them on a timer."

"Just in case on a timer?!"

"Yeah, you can help me kill him later." Arcane yelled over the noise.

We ran as fast as we could out the exits. We were joined in the cacophony by Julian, who had Stray slung over one shoulder and Gepetto hanging off his back. When we hit the parking lot, Daria and Buddy were already there, starting the car.

"Let's get the heck out of here before someone arrests this freakshow." Arcane gowled as he pushed me into the back and Julian stuff Stray in after me. He and Buddy took the front and Daria and Julian jumped into the middle (with Gepetto on her lap) and Arcane hit the gas hard and the van went screaming into the night.

^*^*^**^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^*^*^*

The X-men coughed and struggled to get out of the smoke. Scott helped Kitty and Jean, whom had both been next to a particularly nasty smoke bomb when it went off.

"Man, That was something else." Evan coughed, trying to clear his eyes. "They had the place wired."

"Look!" Kurt pointed at the sky. The X-men looked up to see metal orbs taking to the sky.

"Looks like Mags didn't get what he wanted, either." Logan grumbled satisfied. 

"We'd  better get back to the institute," Jean coughed. The others nodded in agreement.

^*^**^^**^^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^*

"Wow."

"For somebody so thin-"

"She can really pack it in."

"Yeah."

The other stared as I finished my third double cheeseburger.  I reached for the next meal and started chowing down on fries. A burger place had been the only food place around when I started threatening my friends with what would happen if I didn't get something to eat.

"It's her mutation." Stray said matter-of-factly. "Judging by what she's already told us, she got something in her bloodstream that stopped circulation of that power of hers, and it made her woozy as her body tried to conserve energy. Then boom! The power is released as the inhibitor wears off and suddenly instead of operating her body in a sleep state with an excess of energy, she's fully awake with not enough energy, and her metabolism has increased."

"What does her metabolism have to do with anything?" Arcane asked as I finished my fries and started in on my fourth burger.

"Side effect. This happened the last time she got sick too, but that was because she ate a bad piece of biscuit and it made her sick. And she didn't eat for several days. When she got better she ate almost half of her weight in ribs and didn't gain but a couple pounds. Super fast metabolism."

"Because of the energy."

"Yeah, it's like her immune system. It protects her body above what protection she's already got. But as soon as she gets her fill, she'll be okay. Don't know about you, though."

"Hunh?"

"Well, You're payin' dude."

"WHAT?!"

I finished my fourth burger.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^

The next day, after much grumbling on the part of Arcane, who had been duped into buying gas and food for all of us, we set out for The Mountain. There we could find a place to stay and rest.

The Mountain was a sort of stop on the mutant Underground. Except that names are deceiving.  The Mutant Underground was a complex bunch of stops in the country where mutants could hide out for a bit and not have to worry about being attacked.  And access was limited to mutants that could be trusted with secrets. 

In the Mutant Underground the rules were simple. Follow your leader. Your leader is responsible for you.  Mutants without leaders are put with one until they leave the Underground.

But we were going to go to the Underground after we did something important.

"I can't believe you guys left my dogs behind."

"We were in a bit of a hurry, Dan."

"I'm sure you were."

"Hey now." Stray threw his hands up in defense. "We are going to go get the three monsters you call dogs. Don't snap at us anymore."

"You're right. Sorry."

"It's alright."

"There they are." Buddy pointed out of is window. I looked out the window. There were my three companions, wagging their tails. 

"Hey boys." I said to them. Arcane stopped long enough for them to jump into the van. Then he turned the van around and headed towards The Mountain.

^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^^**^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^^*

Brain Wave will take the reviews. Hey, she wanted to be in the story!


	13. The Mountain

Shout Outs!

Rogue77: How cute! I think puppies are so cute, but my dogs are just as cute. What kind of dog is it?

Dragonet: Have a cookie. *gives cookie* I don't know where your sock is. I don't know, probably not. Hezibah wanted to go home, and having a hyena in this story is a little irrelevant. I don't know. I really don't know. Wow. Those were a lot of questions.

Raliena: I know I'd probably be like that. I'm glad you like the plushies.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^^**^*^^*

The Mountain is hidden deep in the Underground.

Quite literally, actually.

The Mountain is actually a giant pit, of which you can only get to by tunnels.

We had been walking down winding tunnels for about half a day. The tunnels started above us, in the sewer systems, which most thankfully did not traffic raw sewage. It was mostly dry. There was a hidden access tunnel there that opened down below, into the catacomb of tunnels.

To anyone who didn't know the way, these tunnels were a huge deathtrap. Of course, there wasn't much chance of that, as the above tunnel had been roped off long ago. 

We turned down another tunnel, and came into sight of a couple iron clad doors.

"Love what they've done to the place. Iron gray is such the color." Stray quipped. I grinned and called out.

"Hey! Bouncer! Let us in!"

"Don't call me Bouncer. My name is Minotaur!" Someone huffed behind us. I turned around to see a big mutant, that looked remarkably like, well, a minotaur. He was wearing black pants and a black shirt.

"How did you get behind us?"

"I have my ways."

The door opened and I looked around to see an orange skinned mutant poke his head out. This was a real orange. Like road cone orange.

"Are you done walking? I wanna get back!"

I snorted. "Ways, hunh?"

Minotaur rolled his eyes. "State your business."

"Pleasure."

"Fun."

"Peace."

"Blowing stuff up."

"Now THERE'S a conflict of interests." Daria laughed.

"If it wasn't you, Stray, I'd throw you all out." Minotaur sniffed. "Go on in. But don't cause trouble! Who's your group leader?"

"We are individual thinking units."

"Except for Stray. He has to have a brain to think." 

"HEY!"

"Danny is." Buddy pointed at me.

"Again?" I groaned. "I was a few times ago!"

"Well, you just have to be again, besides, everyone likes you."

"They do not."

"For my purposes they do."

"Buddy!"

"Are you two done?" Minotaur huffed.

"Yeah, yeah. It's me. Can we go?" 

He glared at me but nodded. We walked on inside, passing the orange mutant, whom also had orange hair.

"What's going on Camouflage?"

"Camo. Nothing much, Danny. The whole groups here. And Mr. Super's team."

"So all hell is breaking loose."

"Naw, they're being pretty good about keeping their peace."

"Cool. See ya."

"See ya!"

I walked with the rest of my group into the hall behind the doors. At the end of this hall was another set of doors. As I advanced, I heard music on the other side.

I stayed my hand at the handle.

"Now we're going to behave, right?"

"No." Stray grinned.

"I expect it from him. Well, let's have fun." I pushed the door open.

Loud music hit us like a shock wave.

"Keep your ears down Julian!" Daria yelled over the music, which was trying to drown her out.

"What?" He yelled back. His ears were flat across his back.

"Dance? I'd love too!" She dragged the poor mutant off, in which I suspect she was hearing what she wanted too. I just laughed. Stray and Buddy took off in different directions. Arcane and I with my dogs took off into the lower tunnels to get away from the noise.

Well away from the noise, well, sort of, it kind of stuck everywhere, Arcane and I separated. He had to go talk with some of his contacts.

Contacts like Arcane are a special bunch. As far as the Underground goes, they're a version of equalizers, pulling mutants out of bad situations, taking out the opposition, and sometimes neutralizing the opposing force. They were the most respected and most feared of them all. And, like Arcane, they kept pretty much to themselves, forming very few ties except amongst themselves.

Arcane and his associates are known as Paladins, though the means they use to get what they want aren't always reminiscent of a gallant white knight.

Cassius and Brutus went with Arcane, even though he probably didn't want them to. The twins went where they wanted, and he learned that long ago, just like everyone else. And I wanted to make sure everything went okay. Some mutants weren't as nice as others.

Doggy and I trotted down the tunnel, looking for some people we knew. 

Doggy has always been with me, far longer than the twins. He was my best friend, and the person I would trust with my life.

A loud clanging sound caught his attention before I could hear it, but I knew what it was.

Though I don't mean to, I always pick up things from the minds of animals. I've never been able to control it, but I've managed to tone it down to the point where they usually don't know it.  It's almost as if I know what they experience all the time. In fact, it's one of the ways I fight. If there's enough animals around, I use the signals I pick up from animal minds to display an uncanny fighting ability. That doesn't mean I'm strong like a tiger if I hear his thoughts though. And I'm certainly not as fast as Doggy.

But it does give me an unusual advantage.

"Who's that?" I asked to no one. Doggy tilted his head to the side, as if actually considering my question.

"Let's go find out, eh?" I said. Doggy wagged his tail.

I walked down the rest of the tunnel, and at the end I heard myself the clanking sound. 

The tunnel opened up to a sort of gym. The lone inhabitant was a guy in a tank top, hitting a punching back made of old scrap metal.  He was fairly tall, with medium length black hair, that ended a little below his ears. He was thin, yet all the muscles he had were as tightly coiled as a spring, like he had been fighting most of his life. As he punched, I could see corded muscle down his arms. But I knew that super strength wasn't actually his mutant power. And even though I couldn't see his eyes, I knew they were a purple color. Not a dazzling violet or pale lavender, just purple. A person could mistake them for brown if they didn't get a good look.

"Eeeevaan." I drawled. He looked up, running a hair through his hair to push it out of his eyes.

He was a good looking guy. Maybe not an Adonis, but a lot better than most. Quite a nice sight.

"Ivan. You're putting way too many vowels in it."

"Yeah, but if I said it the way it's spelled, you get mad at me, I just wanted to make sure I got it right this time."

"So I do. It's about time we saw each other again. If I had to stay here with only Mr. Stupid hanging around, I'd go mad."

"So leave. Mr. Super wouldn't follow you."

"But that's like admitting defeat. It doesn't make sense."

"I'll bet." I said wryly. "I've got a question for you. How did your accent get so good?"

"You don't know how many times I've heard that," he said back.

Ivan Korzenki. A Russian immigrant. I don't know how long he's been wandering around in the states, but it's been a while. He looks to me to be about twenty three. His accent is so good; a person could mistake him for a native. Except for when he gets in a cussing match with Mr. Super. I've heard some pretty creative threats.

"It's been awhile since we last saw each other, how is your style doing?" He asked slyly.

"Pretty good. But I probably won't be up to your level."

"Not many are. Come on, I want to see what you've got." He motioned me over.

My clothes were black pants and a grey hoodie. I pulled off the hoodie, straightened my white shirt, and took a fighting stance.

"Shall we?"

"You want a handicap, old man?" I teased. Then I ducked because Ivan shifted his weight and did a roundhouse kick.

"I don't need a handicap. You?"

"Not on your life." I blocked a low kick aimed for my stomach and shot a fist toward his ribs, which he blocked easily. This was just a warm up.

"Well, you aren't any worse." He laughed. Then things got serious.

I leaped backwards as he punched out. I rolled to the side and caught his arm as he went to catch mine. He used that to pull me back into range of his other arm, which I ducked and tried to hit him in the ribs again. He blocked with his thigh.

"You could have hit me in the face and I wouldn't have been able to stop you. Stop going for the side!"

"But the face is so pretty." I teased as I kneed him in the side.

"Ooof!" The air was knocked out of me as he pulled the same trick. We broke apart to catch our breaths. He recovered first.

Ivan is a street fighter. He has been ever since I first met him, when even then he was an old hand. 

I caught my breath and tried to catch him of guard with a spinning kick. He dropped under the attack and tripped me by kicking out my other leg, knocking me forward right into his arms.

"You're being soft on me."

"So are you." Ivan said innocently. He helped me back to my feet.  "I'm glad to see you, Dann."

"Me too." I said as I dropped down and tripped him.

"Ouch."

"Yep." I helped him back up.

"I should've known you'd do that. You use cunning rather than brawn." He grumbled. I crossed my arms.

"Admit it, you let me do that."

"True."

"Why you!"

"What? I was agreeing with you!" He laughed.

^**^^**^*^^**^*^**^*^*^*^^*^*^*^**^^*

Hmmm…This chapter focused on Danny and The Mountain.

Minotaur will take the reviews! Remember, his name isn't Bouncer!


	14. Muscle, Mind, and Mystery

Shout-outs

Rogue77: Aww…I'm so happy, Drake likes me. Thank-you! It wasn't as good as your action scene, I think, but thank you for complimenting me!

torque: Here you go! *gives Ivan plushie* I would love to beta read for you! That's one of the nicest compliments I've gotten. Please e-mail it to me, and put a subject like 'fanfiction' on it so I know what it is and don't accidentally delete it.

Laureate: Thank you! And Ivan thanks you too. I thought the Julian/Daria couple was a good match, I'm glad you liked it! Thank you for the pecan pie!

Raliena: Thank-you! I introduced a few more characters, I hope you like it. 

^*^*^*^^***^^*^*^*^*^*^*

Several hours later, a cup of bad tea and several explosions, I left the underbelly tunnels and moved up in the Mountain.

The Mountain is almost three tiers of living space. The bottom floor is where the parties usually are. The underbelly is where training areas are. The top is where the resting places are. Rooms, cots, kitchens, that sort of thing.

"Well I'll be. If it ain't the toughest short stuff ever to wander above ground."

I looked to the voice. There was a big guy, almost seven feet tall, all muscle and brawn. He wasn't wearing a shirt. He was wearing black pants and black gloves. 

"If it isn't Mr. Super! How you doin?" I grinned at him.

"I'd be better if that Russian Rat wasn't wandering around in the Underbelly. Can't stand him."

Mr. Super is the kind of guy you would imagine as a pro wrestler. He had really short brown hair and blue eyes, but those are contacts. The actual color is brown.

"He said basically the same thing." I grinned.

Compared to Mr. Super, Ivan doesn't look like much but a pretty boy. But I've seen those two get into a fistfight, and it's nothing close to pretty. Unlike Ivan, Mr. Super's mutant power is super-strength. He may not be super-tough. His toughness, like Ivan's, came from rigorous training, not DNA. But Ivan is a gymnast, which Mr. Super isn't, and he can give back just as much as he gets. The rivalry between the two is nothing short of legendary in the Underground.

"So what are you in for, kid?"

"You're only six years older than me, you know. We're just taking a break from the fast life."

"You tangle with the Rampage's lackeys again?"

"Yeah. Dracon tried to eat Stray again."

"Hunh." Mr. Super snorted angrily. "Those guys are causing more trouble than ever. Anything else new?"

"I met Magneto and his gang and a bunch of hoity toity muties."

"Must be Xavier's gang. Congrats, you met a bunch of celebrities."

"Great…Hey, you hear anything from the blue squadron lately?"

"Yeah." He got quiet.

"What happened?" I felt the words sink in my gut.

"Shoot-out. None of 'em survived."

I exhaled sharply. I didn't know the blue squadron all that well, but every time a group of mutants got killed, the Underground got more on edge. Last year, a few groups got offed in a gang war between two different mutant groups. The Underground locked down so fast that a lot of innocent mutants were left twisting in the wind and deported themselves.  And to top it all off, groups tended to break up faster during those times, as trust began to grow thin. Plus, this was the second group this year. The year was almost over, but it lay the sense of foreboding heavy on the Underground.

"Let's hope this doesn't end up like the Scula scandal last year."

"I'll drink to that sister." He handed me a soda. He was drinking vodka, but he knew I didn't care for it.

"So why are you here, Mr. Super?"

Mr. Super downed his shot of vodka quickly. "Heard a few rumors, decided to come here to rest up before going to investigate them. Business opportunities, you know."

"I'll drink to that." I saluted with my canned soda. He rose his vodka shot glass.

^*^**^^**^*^^**^**^*^^*^*^*^*^*

Rampage drew a line through another name on his clipboard. His goal was going to be accomplished pretty soon.

Magneto had been here, requesting his database of mutants. Rampage had acquiesced, but had made a few…corrections.

One didn't make a deal with demons without holding a few cards in play. Especially with the stakes this high.

He opened a copy of his database on the computer. The computer was a wonderful thing, able to do what he needed ten times faster than a normal computer. 

The database of mutants held the most information anyone could have on mutants. But his primary concern was on three…no, four groups now. Magneto, for all of his power and high ideals, was not a threat to his team, the Relentless, in any way, especially with his own superior manpower.

The first entries showed up. He read them boredly. He knew them all by heart anyway. And their leaders. The leaders were the biggest threat, even more so for one group, which had no leaders. Though one girl seemed to take that responsibility often than not. The little…rat.

^*^*^**^*^*^*^^*^^*^*^*^*^*^*^^***^^*^*^*

Arcane read the reports with the others.

Garil, a psychic and all around bad (well, in a sense) guy. He had black shaggy short hair with green eyes. He was of medium height, and had several chipped teeth, with a scar across his neck where someone had tried to rip his throat out.

Surreal, a lady with a constant bad temper. She had orange hair and a sort of face that couldn't be called truly pretty, but not bad to look at. 

Domino, a true jack of all trades. He was tall and thin, with scraggly blond hair. His powers remain a mystery, as he relies completely on more…orthodox methods to deal with his enemies. Domino tended to be very quiet.

Danny's two massive rottweilers, Cassius and Brutus, lay at Arcane's feet. Garil was sitting opposite of him. The table was round, so this was not difficult. In the middle of the table, a tray with four glasses full of water and a pitcher of water sat.

"Your dog's head is on my foot." Garil grumbled as he flipped a page on his report. Arcane picked up a glass of water from the tray.

"Not my dog."

"Might as well be, the way they follow you around."

"Belongs to the empath."

"Which one?"

"Do you really need to ask that?"

"Oh…The cute one."

"Hey."

"Sorry. Forgot you were 'protective'." Garil said slyly.

"Don't start with me, psychic. I'll make short work of you."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Can the testosterone levels please get shelved? We have work to do." Surreal snapped.

"Could have fooled me." Garil muttered. Surreal gave him a look of pure disgust.

"I can't even see why you're here."

"I like to think I walked." He commented into the water glass he just picked up. Arcane hid a smile. Domino stared at the assembly unfeelingly.

"Let's review." Surreal shot Garil a dirty look. "We've got two dead mutant groups. All of them were killed in a free for all battle. All were ambushed. The leaders of said groups were found dead after the initial battle."

"If all of them were killed in the battle, wouldn't it make sense that the leaders were killed in said firefight?" Garil noted.

"They were kept alive for a few minutes and then killed, presumably for information." She glared.

"How do we know that?" Garil persisted.

"Witnesses." She snarled at him. " How ELSE would we know? The killers were only interested in the mutant groups."

"Just covering all the bases." Garil said. "If it wasn't me, it would have been Arcy boy there, and I know you're not exactly comfortable around him."

"What are you implying?" She began to raise her voice.

"Quiet. We're not going to get anywhere if you two start a fight. And if I remember, it's illegal for there to be fighting between paladins in the Underground unless absolutely necessary." Arcane broke in forcefully.

"Yes it is. Not that that stopped you before, Arcane." Garil commented smugly.

"As I remember, it was necessary."

"You were fighting me."

"I rest my case."

"Cold."

"Yes."

"Can we get back to the situation at hand?" Surreal grumbled.

""Whatever makes you happy." Garil commented innocently. Sitting next to Surreal, he was playing with fire, but he was known for taking his chances.

"I think the killings may be related. And I think another incident may happen." Surreal said matter-of-factly.

"Indeed." Domino stated.

"Well, we'll just have to be on the lookout. Ain't nothing we can do with the information we've been given." Garil snapped his report closed. Surreal glared at him.

"Ain't nothing we can do? Is that all you have to say? Where is your compassion?"

"It's true, unless you have some miracle plan that will give us who we want." He shot back.

"We have to keep our ears open. Like Garil said. But in the meantime, we're going to have to do something. I suggest we split up into pairs and hit the hotspots for gossip. We're bound to pick up a few rumors." Arcane mused.

"I'll drop dead before Garil comes with me."

"Fine. I'll take him."

"I feel like such a worthless person."

"You are. Alright, Surreal, You've got Domino. What hotspot do you want?"

"We'll take The Rough."

"May you find diamonds of information." Garil commented.

"Shut-up." She growled.

"We'll take the Rock Pool. You make any puns and I'll shoot you." Arcane threatened.

Garil struggled to keep his mouth shut. The last time he didn't he came off on the worse end.

"Right. We know how to keep in touch with one another if we have a real lead, right?" Surreal pressed.

"Cell phone?"

"Works for me." Arcane put his report on the table. "Happy hunting."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

John boredly threw down the pictures Magneto, his boss, had given them. Lots of pretty shielahs, some weird lookin' mates, but not one that used fire. There was a Firefly, but that was a he, and he just glowed like, well, a firefly.

"Mates, these ones are boring. Though that shielah with the pigtails, she was fun. Loved her hair. Red as fire, so it was."

"Didn' look like dat to me, homme." Gambit shuffled a deck of cards.

"So it was a little dark. But the fact is, she was exciting, but look at these others! They hardly got nothing, it's like takin' candy from a baby."

"Some of the mutants are not here, comrade." Piotr pointed out.

"Eh?"

"That man in the hat and trench coat, his picture is not here. So, there must be mutants that have not been recorded."

"Da Tin man got a point. We might have some fun yet, homme."

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Sorry for the lull in updates. Had a few things to do yesterday and couldn't get this little chapter up.

Mr. Super shall take the reviews! Because he's super like that.


	15. Innocent and Sinister

Shout-outs

Rogue77: Thank you! And I still stand by my statement that you are a good writer. Hmm… Yes, you are, but Magneto's view may not be the one fought over.

Raliena: No worries, Enjoy your break!

Dragonet: I'm sure he would. Actually, a lot of people seem to like the Russian more…

torque: Alright, I'll take a look at it when it comes in. I'll try to do a good job beta reading for you! Hmm…You're right, Rampage is starting to sound downright evil. 

 ^^*^**^^**^^*^*^*^*

I poked the pins in a map that a major in mapmaking couldn't decipher. The map was an entire picture of the Underground. 

The Underground did not just consist of the Mountain. There were many stops along the road, The Demon's Elbow, The Court of Shadows, Sanctuary, The Rough, The Inverted Heights, The Rock Pool. And those were only a few. Of course, names could be very deceiving.

The map was made of thread. It was a bunch of strings, held in place by the pins that marked the spots on the Underground. The colors of the pins dictated the type of place it was. The map stretched out across the entire wall.

"Plotting your next conquest, fearless leader?"

I looked over my shoulder.

As tall and as thin as a scarecrow, with startling blue eyes, and thick (yet short), shaggy black hair, Garil is perhaps the funniest Paladin I have ever met. Almost twenty-six, he's also one of the most dangerous men I've ever met. Like most Paladins, he was a crack shot with a gun, and he also fought with a knife. Sometimes, I think his uncanny skill with the blade was more dangerous than his shot. And his psychic powers, limited to telekinesis (he could not read minds) were a force to be reckoned with. But as powerful as it was, he could not pick up his own body to fly, like the red haired psychic I saw in the mall, and as a result he tends to be scared of heights, but that doesn't usually stop him from getting his job done. But in his chosen profession he was considered one of the weakest. I believe it is because he has shown compassion to an enemy more than once. And he was deathly afraid of water. He couldn't swim and tended to sink like a rock. 

"Hi Garil. How was the meeting?"

"The usual. I annoyed Arcane. Made Surreal angry. Domino didn't say much."

"Ah. Just the four of you?"

"Yes. All of the others are a wandering." 

He came up and looked at the map. He traced a finger across the string from our current position (marked with a gold pin) to another.

"The Rock Pool is wonderful this time of year." He winked at me.

"Is that where you're going?"

"Aye. And Arcane. And I know how you two hate to be apart."

"You're teetering on the point of being too bold, Garil. I'll finish what the other mutant that left that scar on your neck started."

"A thousand apologies." He gave me a mock bow. 

"Hm. So do you think I should be going to the Rock Pool?"

"It would be awful if I was deprived of your company for another six months. I don't think I could stand another minute without you."

"Very funny." I rolled my eyes. He just laughed. His laugh is a bit raspy, but it's pretty infectious. Soon we were laughing our heads off. 

"Haahaahaaahhaaaaa!!!"

"Will you two jokers stop laughing? Some people are trying to sleep you idiots!" Somebody yelled from the hall. Garil tried to cover his mouth as he kept laughing. I bit on my knuckles to choke down the giggles. We ran down into the hall towards the music so we could laugh and not disturb anyone. We probably shouldn't have been making such a racket in the upper level anyway.

"What were we laughing about, anyway?" He asked.

"I don't know." I said as I finally got my laughter under control. "You're the psychic, you should remember these things."

"Right. Well, I have to go find my anonymous friend, I just wanted to say hello, or rather, goodbye, before I left with him to the Rock Pool."

"Maybe I'll see you there." I smiled. He winked at me roguishly and disappeared into the lower tunnels.

^^**^*^^*^**^^*^*^**^^*^*^**^*

Magneto tapped his fingers onto his desk. It was no surprise to him that Rampage had not given him the entire database, but it was no matter. They would all see his way. And if they didn't…well, there were ways of dealing with those…

What interested him more was the odd incidences that seemed to be circulating this…Underground. Death of mutant groups. Complete genocide. It could work very well for him, making it easy for him to recruit others, just by spreading the rumor that humans were to blame, even if it wasn't true. It would be a means to an end.

A means to an end.

*^^*^**^^*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^*^**^*^^**^

There are always those who will give their loyalty. Everything has a price.

Rampage knew this all to well. In fact, with his entire group, he knew of the things that some of the most powerful of mutants, even the fabled Paladins, wanted. And what to do with that want. To achieve his own goal.

And the goal of his station? To become the leader of The Underground. 

The Underground wasn't just some place where mutants found some sort of Nirvana, where they could be at peace with one another. It wasn't just some hideout for the abused or the shunned.

It was power. Great power.

He didn't care for Magneto's ideals. Nor Xavier's. He had no qualms with working with humans. They made excellent expendables. But even he could not take over The Underground now. Not yet. He needed to weaken it first.

And weakening it he had been. For many years. But the most dangerous part of the game was about to begin, now that Magneto and Xavier had entered the arena. 

He sighed. It would've been so much easier if he didn't have to deal with them. 

Three groups. Three groups were left, the strength of The Underground. Against his own group, the odds were in their favor.

But the ball was in his court.

**^^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^^**^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Professor Xavier worked with Jean to get Cerebro to pick up hidden signatures.

"I wonder how many signatures we'll be able to pick up if this works." Jean mused.

"I assume there are other groups like the mutants that attacked us."

"I hope that girl is alright."

"She seemed alright when she hurt Magneto. The trouble is, I believe she will see us always as her enemy. We could not help her when she was sick."

"I'd never seen a sickness like that before. Do you think whoever did it could make bullets like that for other mutants? We could be in serious danger."

"Yes. Ah!" 

Cerebro whirred to life. Across the map showed the red dots of mutants they had already identified. Others, however, were black. Hidden signatures.

"Oh my…" Jean gasped at the mass of dots. Nearest to them, there was a massive congregation of dots.

"Some sort of gathering?" The Professor mused.

"They're all over the place." Jean pointed as Cerebro changed to a globe(it had only been showing an area of five states before) displaying almost five groups of black dots.

"Truly we have not been seeing the whole picture. We must investigate these places. Perhaps we can find some potential allies." 

^**^*^^*^*^*^*^**^*^^*^**^*^^**^^*^**

"So where are we going, boss?"

"My name is not boss."

"It is while you are."

I rolled my eyes. "How about the Rock Pool?"

"Sounds good to me." Daria said a little too fast. Julian looked less than pleased.

"You just want to go there because you've heard some of the furry guys are hanging out there." Stray teased.

"And your point is?"

"I believe more than one of us has reasons for going. Mainly, the person who suggested it."

"Don't push your luck, Buddy." I growled.

"Be as calm as the moth as it flies into the window and lands on Stray's head."

"What?!" I asked, bewildered.

"It's just something you'd expect me to say. Don't think too hard on it." He advised.

"Everyone for the Rock Pool, say aye!" Daria yelled. "AYE!"

"Aye." I said in a noncommittal way.

Buddy shrugged. "Nowhere else to be. Aye."

"I'm not getting left behind. Better say Aye too, Julian, are your girlfriend is going to be chasing every fur rug she can. AYE!" Stray committed.

"Think I'm going to let you guys wander around without me? Aye." Julian nodded. Gepetto did a little dance around my dogs, the twins had come back when Arcane and Garil left, and we made plans for the trip.

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Hmmm….A lot going on this chapter.

Garil will take the reviews! A Paladin is a person of many trades.


	16. A Good Man Down

Shout Outs

Rogue77: I updated as fast as I could! There's a lot happening in this chapter…

Laureate: Don't worry, the characters are going to start thinning down. And I'm going to try to make it less mysterious from here on out, I seem to have problems like that on mysteries.

Torque: He's a lot like Dex. A guy of many talents. The Beatles are cool!

Dragonet: No Russian this time, but I promise he'll show up later. Both of them.

^**^*^*^^*^**^^**^*^*^

Surreal entered the building. 

The building was just an old warehouse. But there was a basement in the warehouse that was being used as a place of the Underground.

Domino followed her and shut the door behind them. 

"Shall we?" He asked dully.

"Yes. You keep back, you tend to draw attention that we don't need."

"Attention."

"Yes. What , you don't under-UGH!" 

"Good work." Rampage spoke. "Traitors should stab people in the back." He had been standing at the door with a suitcase, following the two Paladins at a distance. He stepped over Surreal's lifeless body. A knife was stabbed to the hilt in her back.

"Pay up."

"Of course. Maybe we can meet again." Ramnpage handed Domino the suitcase he had been carrying. "Of course, you may want to leave the country. I took the libery of leaving you a passport."

"Trying to double cross the crosser?"

"You're more good to me alive then dead, my friend. Thank-you for explaining the map of The Underground to me. You don't know how much you've helped."

"I'm leaving." Domino walked out of the building. Rampage shook his head, just smiling. He pulled out a cell phone.

"Get down here fast. We're cleaning out a rat hole."

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"We have been traveling in way too many tunnels lately." Julian complained as his wings scraped the top of the tunnel ceiling. 

"There are many tunnels in life."

"Buddy, stop with the philosophical crap, or I will whack you over the head."

"Daria, you need to get out of your negativity tunnel."

"My negativity tunnel?"

"Yes. It's full of bad chi."

"Riiight…."

"Here it is." My dogs started scratching at a section of the wall. With Stray's help I was able to push it to the side. The wall was a trapdoor, and on wheels.

"Peace, quiet, and lots of rocks."

The Rock Pool is not a pool. It is a huge cavern with massive Stalagmites and Stalactites. The most impressive display was in the middle of the cavern, in a shallow scoop. It was as if the rocks made a pool. Hence, The Rock Pool. 

The Rock Pool is a good ways away from The Mountain. A day's drive. It's amazing that the caverns don't collapse into themselves.

Our little group walked in between the staggering pillars of stone. Daria and I could not work together to put our arms around and touch. They were that big. And they were so tall.

The Rock Pool is a very peaceful place, not a whole lot of music, not a lot of squabbling. A lot of people, more so than The Mountain, but that was because this time of year was the best time to be here. A lot of the people here were part of The Mountain most of the time.

"I was wondering when you'd get here!" Someone called from above us. The voice echoed off the walls.

I looked up. Garil was sitting on one of the low stone pillars. It was only about eight feet tall. I waved at him, and he waved back but almost fell off of his perch.

"And to think he's one of the best."

I looked over my shoulder to see Arcane standing behind me. He was looking at Garil.

"I hope he falls."

"No you don't."

"I don't?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No. You're best friends and you know it." I grinned.

"Doesn't mean I have to wish for his safety."

^**^^*^^**^^*^*^*^**^^*^*^*^**^*^*^^**^*^

They'd been caught off guard. It had been too quick.

They had stopped in The Rough to rest before they went out to find more details on the job.

It never occurred to him that it might be a trap.

The first wave had wiped out most of the mutants. This wasn't a recruiting attack, it was genocide.

The survivors rallied behind the last defense. Mr. Super.

"Get back! Get those tables up, use em as shields! Stand together! Don't let them break the line! Memory!"

"Yeah?" A twelve year old boy, with short black hair and blue eyes, called up to the front from behind all of the other mutants.

"Get out of here, kid! You can get through the vents, get out of this building and warn anyone you can!"

"Boss—"

"Don't boss me kid, get out! Or I'll throw you out!"

Memory fled the battle, scampering up a vent and out.

Mr. Super punched an enemy across the room, then charged into the fray. 

"BREAK THROUGH THEIR LINE! WE CAN MAKE IT!"

"I don't think so." Rampage hissed as he met the charge. The two super powerful mutants clashed. Mr. Super socked him across the lip, causing a stream of blood to fall from the wound. Rampage felt his ire and flew into a rage. Mr. Super's blows made no effect on the raging man.

"Damn. RUN! ALL OF YOU RUN! I'LL KEEP THEM HERE!"

"Pretty brave of you. Too bad you'll never leave here alive!" Rampage roared as he bore down on Mr. Super. The other mutants scattered, but could not get out. Their numbers dwindled and soon all that was left was Mr. Super himself. And even he could not last.

He gave back punch for punch. But Rampage was invulnerable now. It was a lost battle, no matter how well or bravely he fought.

Mr. Super stopped punching him. Rampage leered at him.

"Giving up? Do you want to surrender? I could use a man like you."

"May Life instead of courage leave my body. I'll die, but I won't ever surrender!!" He threw himself forward and knocked Rampage into the wall, but was set upon by the other mutants, who rushed to protect their leader.

He went down fighting, taking out a few mutants before death overtook him.

^*********^*^**^^**^^**^^**************

Memory ran down the road as fast he could. They would be following him soon. Time was not on his side.

And he was the most dangerous of all to the evil mutants. 

A survivor.

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This chapter is a bit short, my apologies. 

Memory shall take the reviews. As long as he's here, they can't find him….


	17. Traitors and Tricksters

Shout-Outs

Rogue77: Actually…yes it was sad that Mr. Super died. But there's about to be a lot more tragedy.

Ravyn Nyte: I'm just pleased you like them! The Mary-sue one was a bit odd…

Laureate: Thank you! Fight scenes aren't really my forte, but I'm glad you thought it was decent, that means I must be improving a bit.

^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*

"TRAITORS! EVERYONE HAS TO LEAVE! GET OUT!" A boy's voice screamed over the loud music There was a loud mechanical feedback when the electronics were unplugged.

"What went on here?" Wondered a mutant standing next to the steps where he was. 

Memory climbed up onto a couple of boxes to deliver his message. Ivan tilted his head and watched with great interest.

"The Rough is no more!"

There was a collection of mutterings and some gasps from the more faint hearted ones. He said nothing.

"We were betrayed. I don't know by who, but Surreal is dead. So were every one of the mutants in The Rough. And Mr. Super." The boy had tears in his eyes.

Ivan felt a slight twist in his stomach. They had been rivals, yes, but they had also been friends, in the with friends like that who needs enemies sort of way. 

"And who was it?" someone yelled.

"It was Rampage and his gang of lackeys! Who knows where he'll strike next, everyone has too leave!"

"And how did you survive?" Challenged another.

"He…Mr. Super…told me to run away."

"I think maybe you're the traitor!"

"Either that or he's just a coward!"

"Get out of here, brat!" A few objects were thrown at the young mutant. He squeaked and leaped off the boxes and ran off.

Ivan watched quietly. He turned to a nearby mutant. 

"Firefly, get me that kid. I want to talk with him."

"Ok boss!" The fourteen year old jumped up from his perch and flew off. Like his namesake, he had massive firefly wings, many in number, holding him off the ground.

"This does not bode well for us." He muttered to himself as he climbed back up to the upper level. "If there are traitors, then our secrets are out, there are no ways we can stop from being uncovered." He went to his room. Leaders were usually assigned separate rooms. He brushed his fingers across an old duffel bag and pulled out a diary.

"Ah, uncle. I never knew you would be so helpful to me after you died and I was given this. You were a man before your time." He opened the book to an old, dried out page, yellowed with time. Across it were scratches in Russian, barely legible even to him.

A light knock on the door stirred him from his thoughts. "Come in."

Memory opened the door slightly. The older boy, Firefly, lightly pushed him forward.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Hmm. He is dead."

"Yes sir." The boy teared up again. Ivan felt a deep sense of pity for the boy but said nothing. 

"Anything more sir?"

"Tell me everything that happened whilst you were in The Rough. Spare me no details. I know you remember." He said with grim amusement. His back turned from Memory as he still contemplated the book in his hand. He found that people talked to him easier if he wasn't locking eyes with them. He tended to scare people. 

"Mr. Super went down to The Rough after Mr. Domino said there may be a business opportunity for him there, cause he heard that some mutants were having problems. And you know Mr. Super, he wanted to help out. So we all went down there, Camo, all the others, but we couldn't find 'em. Then, all of a sudden, while we were all still looking around and Mr. Super was getting suspicious, a bunch of mutants burst in and started taking down people left and right. Almost three quarters of the Rough got …got…" He began stammering as the events played out in his mind. I van listened sympathetically, but made no move to comfort him. Comforting him might jerk him out of remembering, and he need to know the entire story.

"It was gone." The boy said finally. "And then Mr. Super rallied the other mutants, the survivors, behind him and then he told me to leave."

"How do you know he is dead?" Ivan asked quietly.

"Because no one, not even him," The boy looked up at Ivan pleadingly, " could survive a battle like that. You didn't see them. They're all killers."

^^*^**^*^*^*^*^^*^**^^*^**^*^*^**^*^^**^*^*^^*^*^**^^**^^*^**^^* 

"Wow. Who could have known rocks were that interesting."

""I guess they are, in a way." Arcane sounded less than impressed as he studied the stone pillar beside us.

"Actually, I was talking about Garil and Stray. They've been trying to make Buddy laugh for the past half hour."

"Have they succeeded?" He looked over my shoulder at the spectacle.

"No, but if Stray laughs any harder at Garil's jokes then he's going to pop a blood vessel." I giggled into my hand.

Buddy was sitting cross legged, meditating under a lone spot of light. This light was from a spotlight and not the moon or sun, but it worked nicely. He held a daisy in one hand and a spoon in the other. 

I really have no idea what the connection is between a spoon and a daisy, but I have been assured that it's 'just one of those things that no one likes to talk about'. 

Buddy had a very peaceful look on his face, ignoring the two men. Stray was on his left side and Garil was on the other, and both were laughing at some really bad joke Garil had told. I noticed something of interest and leaned my head back to look at Arcane.

"Think we should tell them Buddy is asleep?"

"Is he?" Arcane looked more than a little amused. "He is!" We both started snickering. 

Stray got bored after awhile and walked off with Garil in tow, saying something about food. They could eat anytime they wanted too. 

"He's asleep again, isn't he?" I jumped a little and turned to see Daria standing right next to me. 

"You scared me."

"Then hold onto your boyfriend for support. Hey…Wanna do something stupid?"

"When have I ever said no?" I grinned. Arcane looked at us blankly.

"What's happening?"

"Stay here. We don't need civilians getting in our way." Daria elbowed him out of the way. We stepped out behind the pillar we'd been hiding behind while we were spying and snuck over to Buddy.

"I know you don't know how to use this stuff properly, so just take this and…draw pictures." She whispered as she handed me a tube of her brightest red lipstick while she took out her packet of makeup. 

"We're gonna be in so much trouble when he wakes up." I whispered.

"Not if we hide real good." She said smugly as she began to dab some blush on Buddy's face. I took the lipstick and lightly drew a stick figure on his cheek. 

"Come on, I know you can draw better than that." She hissed. 

I took my time and drew little stars and suns and animals. Given the medium, they were actually pretty good. On his forehead I wrote the word 'love' as big as I could.

"You done?" She whispered.

"Yeah." We backed off slowly and quietly. I did it a lot better than she did. 

When we got back far enough we had to stifle peals of laughter threatening to burst from our throats. He looked like some sort of demented clown. We struggled back behind the pillar, somehow managing not to wake him and took off after we grabbed Arcane.

"You two are cruel." He said in disbelief. This just caused us to go into howls of laughter. It echoed off the walls and a couple people called out for us to shut up. We took off at a run, still laughing, still dragging Arcane. No way Buddy didn't wake up at that.

"WHO DID THIS TO ME!?"

"No way! We're screwed!"

"Can't you leave me out of this?" 

"Sorry, Arcy." Daria grinned. "We can't leave a witness that may break under pressure."

"Pressure?"

"Just think! Buddy probably knows how to use a daisy as a deadly weapon. We're saving you! Julian!" She suddenly veered off to go run after Julian. She left me and Arcane staring after her.

"Girl has a one track mind." I muttered.

"Does this mean I'm not getting kidnapped anymore?" Arcane said in his usual amused voice.

"I was only thinking of your safety."

"Perhaps you two should be running. Thinking of your own safety." Buddy loomed over us. It was difficult to imagine since he was shorter than Arcane, but he managed it pretty well.  
"Whatever do you mean?" I squeaked.

He glared at me, and it was all I could do not to burst into a fit of laughter at seeing his face.

"Don't look at her. She and I were just passing by when we noticed the culprits fleeing the scene." Arcane said smoothly. "Garil and Stray went that way. You might even want to question them as how they got a hold of the makeup, Daria would probably be very interested to know they stole hers."

He elbowed me in the shoulder. 

"Right!" I squeaked again. Buddy glared at me suspiciously but turned and stalked off to find the unlucky saps.

We were silent for a moment.

"Wanna go get something to eat?" Arcane said finally.

*^^**^^*^*^**^^*^*^*^**^*^*^^**^*^*^*^*^*^^*^*

Well, sorry for the lull in updates, I'll try to update my Christmas story soon. 

Firefly will take the reviews! Watch out for the wings, they're delicate.


	18. Ultimatums

Shout-Outs!

Rogue77: Well, what doesn't kill him will make him stronger. Wow, you did? That must have been great fun, I've never done it, personally.

Ravyn Nyte: Firefly thanks you for the Klondike bar. Well, I can see the spoon, but I really don't know where the flower came from. He is pretty weird.

Laureate: Thanks for the whiskey balls, yummy! Thank you, I'm trying to work on my romantic parts a bit, I'm glad you liked them!

Dragonet: I'm sorry, but…some more people are going to die. Not in this chapter, but later.  I don't like traitors, either… Heh, I hadn't even remembered that review, that is funny... in an ironic sort of way. 

A/N

Wow, I am really pleased with how this chapter came out. 

*^^*^**^*^*^**^^*^*

"Wow, look at all the mutants." Jean whispered as they waded through the crowd which danced to the music. This underground cavern was full of mutants, of every shape and size.

"We'd never be able to like, recruit them all. Where'd we put them?" Kitty asked as she dodged a couple of mutants that danced very erratically.

"Not all of them may want to join." Scott reminded her.

Getting into the hideout had been nothing short of a chore, of which had only been possible under Professor Xavier's guidance. The bouncer had groused at the three of them a bit, but somehow knew they were mutants.

Jean suspected some sort of empathy. Kitty squeaked suddenly.

"They're playing my favorite song! I'm gonna like these people!"

"Hey, look!" Scott pointed up next to the stage. Jean looked over there, where a calm looking black haired man, wearing black pants and a black turtleneck, was standing next to the electrical systems.

"What about him? Other than he's a total babe?" Kitty looked at him. Jean was inclined to agree.

"He's a leader of some sort, I can tell. Maybe we can get him to tell us a few things."

They waded through the crowd towards him.

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Ivan pulled the switchblade from his sleeve, clicked it open, and calmly stabbed the electrical system. He let go quickly, as the plastic hilt was getting hot. The music died as suddenly as its last note and he calmly stepped onto the stage.

"What is the deal?" Yelled a mutant in the back, obviously irate.

"My fellow mutants." He began, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear, but not quite shouting. "It has come to my attention that this place should be evacuated immediately. And being the sensible people you are, you will evacuate. Immediately."

"Says who?" Challenged the same mutant. "We don't have to listen to you Ivan! How are you going to get rid of us? You just want this place for you and your cronies!"

There were cheers of agreement from others. Ivan smiled. They immediately stopped. His smiles had that effect. 

Because everyone knew when he smiled at times like these someone was about to get hurt.

"Ian." He stated, for that indeed, was the mutant's name. "You are absolutely right. You don't have to listen to me."

His hands crossed behind his back. "As for 'says who', I say you should leave. But you don't have to listen. And you are very wrong about wanting this place for myself and my," his smile began to show a remarkable amount if teeth without seeming to smile any wider, "'cronies.' We tend to prefer…an above ground climate. And as to the question about how I'm going to get rid of you…"

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No one uttered a scream when he pulled that gun out and shot the mutant named Ian. 

There had been no time. 

Scott immediately went for his glasses, as all of them had come in casual clothes, more than ready to blow a hole through that monster's head.

"Now I just winged that one. Just think of what I could do to the rest of you." The black haired mutant, Ivan, said as he held the gun at his side. "And I know exactly what some of you are thinking. You think that I couldn't take out the rest of you with this clip." He gestured with the gun. "But keep in mind that my 'cronies' are still here, and they aren't such bad shots either. Now, you all can try to call me on a bluff…or you can save yourself…unnecessary trouble, and leave. Oh, and do us all a favor and keep away from the more populated areas of the Underground, please, spread out." His eyes, which Scott realized to be purple, raked the crowd with an intense gaze. "We don't want to have another incident like this, do we?"

Jean grabbed his arm. Scott struggled inside to pull his hand down from his glasses, a battle he almost lost.

Mutants, looking terrified at the tall mutant on the stage rushed to pickup belongings and leave. They packed the exits, stealing glances over their shoulders and the impassive figure on stage, watching them leave.

Ian was perhaps most afraid, held up by two other mutants. He looked as if he was scared that another shot was going to come, and left as fast as he could with his arm held close to his body.

Scott broke free of Jean and marched up to the stage, where the black haired mutant watched with an emotion that can only be described as amusement.

"Where do you get off hurting these innocent people?" He yelled at the man. The man walked forward and hopped off the stage with very little effort. He was taller than Scott, and he had the build of a lightweight boxer. Scott shouted at him. "Answer me!"

"Obviously you're new." The soft voice had a lilting Russian accent, barely noticeable. "But then again, had you not been, you would have left by now, knowing the score."

"What score?" Snarled Scott. Jean and Kitty came up beside him, not wanting to leave him alone with the other man.

"The score is thus. Whoever has the most firepower wins. And I win. Now leave, before things go badly for you."

"Things are about to go badly for you!" Scott's hand shot up again to his glasses, prepared to finish what he first thought of doing a while ago.

"Now I'm afraid. Well, X-Man, do you really want to pull off those shades, knowing that it could be the last thing you ever do?"

"How did you know?" Scott was obviously shocked.

"Rumors sometimes have basis in fact. It takes a clever person to discern the truth."

"And why will it be the last thing I do? Do you have something up your sleeve? I've dealt with tougher people than you." Scott said confidently.

"Of that I have no doubts. But have you dealt with smarter? And do you think you can pull off your glasses before I pull this trigger?"

Jean made a small gasp as he looked down and saw the gun barely an inch from his body. It was aimed at a position where the bullet could easily puncture a lung. He had been so engrossed in questioning the mutant he had neglected watching carefully enough.

"Take my advice. This place will be a war zone pretty soon, and it will be nothing like you've experienced. Get out. You're out of your league."

Scott watched with an expression of fury as the mutant stepped back, turned, and left. As if he knew they were nothing. 

Nothing of consequence.

"Scott." A gentle tugging on his arm pulled him from his thoughts. Jean looked up at him. "What do we do?"

"I don't know."

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"What was that?" My head whipped around to look at something that wasn't there. Arcane and the others stared at me.

There.

There it was again.

"What? What are you trying to tell me? What is it?" My mind began to fill with voices only I could hear, the background noise that had always been a soft murmur suddenly jumping in intensity to a roar. Voices, usually complacent, meandering, even boring, suddenly annoyed, frightened, angry.  Voices, like the strings of a strange symphony painting me a vivid picture. These were the same voices that allowed me to see things exactly when they happened, the same that show me everything in a room so dark that an ordinary person couldn't see an inch in front of their noses.

And the same voices that told me things that happened miles away.

"NO!" I roared suddenly as the last pieces latched into place. I held my head as a sudden migraine hit, and I felt tears stinging my eyes when I could feel again.

"What is it?" Daria's hushed voice whispered next to my ear.

"Mr. Super is dead. Rampage killed him. And everyone in The Rough."

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Sorry for the long time to update!

Ian will take the reviews, as he plans to go to Maui, where there is a good chance he will not be shot by the Russian again, and this will probably be the last time you ever see him.


	19. Fall Of The Mountain

Shout Outs

Rogue77: Glad you liked the part with Ivan, I was rather proud of that myself. Thank you!

HoneyBug17: I understand perfectly, sometimes I can't get on either and it's a pain. Thanks a bunch!

Ravyn Nyte: Yeah, I'd hate having voices suddenly page me like that. Thanks a lot!

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Ivan directed his group, a force of about twenty mutants, into strategic points. From what memory had related there was only a matter of time before they had visitors. 

And he wanted to make sure that checking out of The Mountain proved difficult. 

His mutants were one of the groups that had a reputation for being the best when it came to one on one combat. And though he did give them a choice to leave with the others, they had rejected it even before the words got fully out of his mouth. He had expected no less.

"Firefly."

"Yep." The boy perched on the high rafters, being the messenger of their group.

"Is everyone in position?"

"Yep. The bouncers are with us too, and those three goodies are still hanging out in the stage area. They're gonna be the first to go if we don't get 'em to move."

"And what are you suggesting?"

"Well, you are pretty persuasive."

"I just shot someone."

"But it persuaded." Firefly persisted.

"So are you suggesting I shoot them?" A smile began to tug at the side of his mouth.  

Firefly shrugged. "Whatever works. Like you said to me once, the less the distraction."

"Ivan!"

Ivan snapped his head around. The speaker, Minotaur, looked grave. "What is it?"

"They're coming. I heard them in the tunnels."

Ivan nodded slowly. "Do me a favor, there are three mutants on the stage area. Could you get them out of the way?"

"Whatever you say."

^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^^*^*^*^**^

"What the- HEY!" The X-men were grabbed before they could fight back. Kitty managed to phase through the arms of a massive furry mutant, the bouncer they saw earlier, but ran into another mutant who stuck a cloth in her face. Jean and Scott were subjected to the same thing, a dose of chloroform, and dragged them down into the belly of the mountain.

*^*^^*^**^^**^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"We have to get these people out of here. They're at the Mountain, it's only a matter of time before they get here." I said. Ever since the initial burst of information, the flow had kept steady, and the migraines that came from being connected with the collective mind of the animal and insect community had long since dispersed. 

Arcane nodded, and slipped off with Garil to start getting the Leaders to pull their family groups, or friends, or whatever they were doing. Julian and Daria stuck with me like glue to make sure that I didn't get struck with another migraine that crippled me.  Stray and Buddy were off doing something.

The Rough. The Mountain. There were three hotspots for mutants. Those two made up part of it. The last was here, The Rock Pool. 

"So what's old Rampage trying to pull now?" Daria's voice held very little love.

"My guess is he's trying to clear out any opposition he has. Clear out the real fighters and there won't be anyone to stop him when he takes over The Underground. Mr. Super was at the Rough. Ivan is in The Mountain, but there's going to be hell to pay if they try to go in there and kill him. He already cleared everyone out, somebody tipped him off.  But now I can't see what's going on."

"Why?" Daria asked curiously.

"Most of my information is coming from birds. They've been telling me about the events of the last day, I haven't been able to contact anyone underground yet." It was true, birds stayed above, watching everything. They were the perfect spies, their own eyesight several times better than a human.

"What about Ivan?" Julian said quietly at my elbow. He was sitting on his haunches, which still had his head almost at shoulder height.

"We'd never get there in time, and if we could, it would only be a distraction. He's on his own this time."

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They had burst in expecting lambs ready for the slaughter. They expected fear on every face.

They did not expect to see no one.

The music had been off, true…but the information they got told them that that may be the case.  But there were always people the informant said.

So where were they?

Rampage growled angrily at the scene. What had he missed?

"GAH!" A mutant behind him fell suddenly, hit by some flying projectile.

Suddenly they hit from both sides, muscle, brawn, and power. His own mutants surpassed them in numbers, but surprise was on their side. And speed. They were incredibly fast.

"Kill them!" He yelled over the melee. 

"NO SURRENDER!" Another mutant screamed as he attacked Hyena. She dispatched him swiftly.

Rampage grinned when he saw another mutant, a boy with a lot of fairy like wings, swing past him fast to attack mutants behind him. He grabbed the boy's wings and tore them, making any flight useless. The boy screamed in pain.

A force hit him like a cannonball to his gut, forcing him to drop the young mutant. 

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Speed. Speed was of the essence. Alexander the Great knew that. That was why he based his armies on speed and power.

Ivan ducked down fast, so Rampage's raging fists couldn't hit him. He knew he couldn't stand a chance against him, not like this. His ire was up and his one thought was to make Ivan a smear on the ground.

But he was fast. That was the basis of his fighting. Speed and power. No super fast, true, but fast nonetheless.

It was getting to the point where hitting the man was beginning to hurt his fists, the skin was getting invulnerable. 

But they screamed.

Blood came out of the knuckles.

His friends and companions screamed. In fury. In pain. 

In fear.

Camo rushed out of the corner of his eye and snatched up the prone form of Firefly, still alive but unconscious. The other mutants hadn't seen. They might be able to get out, Memory was in one of the escape tunnels reviving the three X-men so they could leave, they could all escape. This battle was already lost.

His stray thoughts cost him dearly.

Rampage had seen an opening and slammed his fist into his side. The pain was intense as he was thrown back against a wall. Several of his ribs were broken, he knew. There was a metallic taste in his mouth.  Blood.

He coughed a few times and struggled to get back up, but a fist slammed against his cheekbone and he hit the same wall, with a few cracks beginning to creep up the wall.

"Not bad for someone who doesn't have any real muscle. You almost put up as good a fight as that Mr. Super. Of course, you won't die like he did. I'm going to make you beg for mercy. That is, unless you want to join me."

Ivan glared at him. It would be a cold day in hell before he joined Rampage. He told him that, and followed it up with a rude hand gesture.

"You're going to wish I killed you the first time I punched you!"

A sudden, bright, blinding flash hit everything, and Ivan was struck blind. And from the sound of things, so was everyone else. Firefly. Firefly had that power.

Someone grabbed his shoulder, he hissed in pain and moved to strike out, but a hushed whisper in his ear stopped him.

"Boss, we gotta get outta here, Firefly ain't doing well, they're all blind, we'll help you get out, come on."

Struggling up, he got an arm around the shoulders of the orange mutant and pulled himself to his feet. As soon as he was up, he released his hold on his shoulders. With Camo's help he picked up Firefly and carried him out, using Camo as a guide.

And behind them Rampage roared with fury and destroyed everything he could get his hands on. But they were already gone.

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Well, that was interesting…

Camo will take the reviews! Even if you can't see him, he's there.


	20. Retreat

SHOUT-OUTS

Raliena: Glad to see you back!

Rogue77: I'm glad you liked the fighting! I know I didn't update very quick.

Dragonet: You're welcome! I'm happy if you are!

Ravyn Nyte: I like them every once in awhile, but they are a little bit stiff. 

A/N

Hello, everyone. Looks like I got myself into a little spot of trouble. I got my account frozen last week, and Two Cents is, once again, deleted. So, it will be about a week before that story is re-uploaded, and under a new rating. PG-13. Hopefully that will stave off the angry people.  If not…well…if you reported me and you're reading this, then please send me an e-mail telling me why. That's all I ask.  And you can even make it as angry as you want. I just want a reason. But I still intend to re-upload, even if I have to put it under R. The reviewers that give me good comments far outnumber those that hate it, and I wouldn't disappoint them for the world. Anyway, I will get back into the habit of uploading on a regular basis, again. Sorry for the inconvienience.

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"Hell."

"That can't be good." Daria speculated.

"It isn't. The Mountain has fallen." I closed my eyes for a moment. It hurt, trying to keep contact with the animals. Almost as bad as The Power when I was barely using it.  And that was bad enough. 

"So what now?" Julian peered over at me.

"Now? Now we run away."

"What?! We're just going to let him walk over this place?!"

"Why not? It's almost empty. And there's something else. A small group of mutants are fleeing the mountain. We'll need to pick them up. Rampage will be too busy advancing on The Rock Pool to mess with them."

"So we let him take over The Underground."

"He took out Mr. Super and Ivan. We don't have anything that they don't. And Rampage still had mutants and humans at his back. We have a grand total of eight mutants."

"Yeah…still doesn't feel right to do it."

"She's right. A rule of warfare is to keep alive." Garil walked in. "We ready to go?"

"Where's Buddy and Stray?" Daria asked. Gepetto was clinging to her shoulders, being protective. Ever since he heard that there may be danger he'd been clinging to her. 

"They were leaving a little surprise. We'd better go, they're waiting by one of the emergency exits. Figure we better get as far away from this place as possible."

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Sight came back to him slowly, as he walked, and soon he was able to move around on his own. Ivan winced painfully at the weight on his shoulder. He loved Firefly like a brother, but the bruises around his back where he hit the wall made for a painful ordeal. Firefly was out cold. They hadn't been able to bandage the wings, and he had passed out from the pain. Camo and Memory were  ahead, picking out the easiest ways to move through the terrain. 

The choice had been to walk through the woods till they got to the next city. The city would cover up their smells fairly well, but there was no way two very unhuman looking mutants could walk in at this time of day. They'd have to wait till night. But they couldn't stay in one place. So the next town over had been the best choice.

But the way was long. And he was badly injured. Even breathing lightly shot pain through his body. And his cheek, though he couldn't see it but indirectly, was turning mostly a dark purple. He had been lucky Rampage pulled that punch, or he may have well killed him. 

And he was still tasting blood. 

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We were riding in the van, tearing down the Highway. Arcane was listening to my instructions carefully.

"Keep going straight. There's a turn in the road after the third stop sign, take it. They shouldn't be too far after that." I directed to him. 

The birds that had been watching The Mountain were keeping an eye on Ivan and his small group of stragglers. They were giving me directions, and it was giving me a headache trying to translate what they said in a language that I could give Arcane. I long ago realized that the things that they, the animals, said to me, which seemed so clear, turned out to be incredibly confusing to everyone else.

He blew past the stop signs, not bothering to stop. Several drivers offered their opinions, but he ignored them. At the third sign, he broke off into a side turn. 

"You guys know we won't be able to fit everyone in this car, right?" Daria asked.

"Then we'll take another one." Arcane stopped near the side of the road. "Now what?"

"They're that way." I pointed off into the woods. "Just inside. I can get them if you can get another vehicle.

"Leave that to me." Garil opened a door and walked out. I got out and started walking in the direction I knew Ivan was. Buddy came walking up beside me. 

"Times like these, we should not walk alone."

"I can take care of myself."

"You have bags under your eyes. You are placing strain on your mind. Better safe than sorry."

"Can't argue with that." I sighed. 

Buddy…well, Buddy is Buddy. I really don't know much about him. I met him about a year ago. He just found us and started following us around.  But he was the best guy to have by your side when you needed some advice. Of course, that advice was a little bizarre and sometimes totally irrelevant, but it was always good for a laugh.

"Where are they?"

"Just ahead. Looks like we may have to carry one. There's some injuries."

"But more were the deaths."

"Not something I want to reflect upon."

A couple minutes later, I pulled some branches aside and called Ivan's name in a loud voice. I knew better than trying to walk in on them. Ivan could snap my neck out of reflex, and as Buddy said, better safe than sorry. 

"Danny." His voice was hoarse. I walked in with Buddy not far behind. Ivan was sitting up next to a tree trunk, and I almost panicked right then. He looked awful. 

I heard Buddy walk over to someone and check them over. I gave a swift glance. Firefly wasn't doing so well either.

"Really messed yourself up this time, didn't you?" I said, vainly trying to hide the lump in my throat. He smiled, but it was obviously painful for him to move. 

In my mind…these two men, Mr. Super, Ivan…they were the strongest men I knew. The toughest of the tough. I always thought they would never be beaten.

And here I had living proof.

"Let's get you guys out of here." I help Ivan to his feet and we struggled back in the direction of the car.

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Another empty place. Rampage was beginning to get very angry. 

"Spread out. If they're planning another ambush, I want them caught first. Hyena!"

"Yes." The furry mutant looked up.

"The exits?"

"All exits are being watched by human units. No one will escape."

Rampage nodded with satisfaction as his troops moved out to search The Rock Pool. Now that they had this place, he controlled the three most powerful centers. 

"Sir! This place is trapped!" A voice yelled.

"What?!" Rampage turned fast and walked towards the voice.

"Wait Sir, No STOP!"

Suddenly a blinding flash exploded as he stepped on the switch concealed under the rock. Next came loud explosions as the cavern began to rock with the echoes.  The explosions had been set up with a domino effect, with this one trap setting off the others. Rampage was thrown back by the first explosion. 

He had not been hurt, much.  But other mutants had not been as lucky.  

"Retreat! RETREAT!"

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"This, like, stinks!"

"Should we really be going back in Scott?"

"I have to see what happened while we were out." Scott pushed through the last door in the tunnel, and they all walked out onto a rickety balcony.

The Mountain common ground had been totally destroyed. Signs of battle were everywhere, but no bodies were to be found

"Scott." Jean's hand lay lightly on his shoulder as he looked at the wreckage with a heavy heart. "The Professor is calling us back. It's dangerous here."

"I should have been alert. We may have stopped this."

"How?" Kitty asked. "If they really want to kill each other, there's like, nothing we can do."

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Indeed.

Buddy will take the reviews! Again….oh well.


	21. Aftermath

Darwin Mayflower: History! Tradition! Culture! Are not concepts; these are items I keep in my den as paperweights! Chaos will rule the world!

--From the movie, 'Hudson Hawk'.

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After Julian and Garil…convinced…a man to give up his car, we had pulled out all the stops to get to a hideaway up in the mountains.

Ran a couple of cops off the road, but that's a minor detail.

The hideaway was nothing but a rusty old barn stuck in the middle of a valley that almost wasn't really a valley. It was covered in trees. 

Daria and Buddy were seeing to Firefly. Poor kid was still in shock. His wings would grow back, as he so demonstrated when they caught on fire about a year ago, be it still must have hurt him. I imagine it's something like getting an arm chopped off and then having it grow back. 

But he would be fine. Ivan was a different matter. I couldn't touch his side without him wincing in pain. Ivan hardly ever winces about anything. And his cheek didn't look all that great either. He was probably very lucky that he was still alive. 

Out of respect, I didn't take off his shirt. He always wore long sleeved shirts with high necks, well, most of the time. He liked keeping his body covered. Because of his mutation.

His eyes were a bit glassy. He wasn't getting enough air into his lungs with his ribs in such bad shape. But he wasn't complaining. He could be at the brink of death with a knife in his chest and he wouldn't complain.

I hate that.

Stray had gone out and 'liberated' some medical supplies. I was busy bandaging Ivan's hands. It looked like he got into a boxing match with a brick wall.

"So what now?" I asked him quietly. He looked up at me from the spot on the floor he had deemed so interesting. 

"Aren't you this group's leader?"

"We don't have a leader. And I know absolutely nothing about leading. I'll leave that to you."

"I can't get up by myself. You might want to choose someone else."

"Great." 

I finished bandaging his hands. Then I sat down across from him. I was so tired. The animals had left my thoughts, but the strain of keeping a mental eye on three places at once had really taken it out of me. And I couldn't sleep. There was a sort of jumpy nervousness in the back of my mind. I didn't know what it was yet, if it was me or them. 

But it was annoying. I wanted to sleep.

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"I fear…that we may have to keep out of this." The Professor steepled his hands.  "I cannot touch the minds of these mutants…but from what I have heard, they are worse than some terrorist groups. They are destroying each other from within. And the Rampage-" he paused to consider his words "-May be more dangerous than Magneto when it comes to getting what he wants."

"Then we just…let them kill each other?" Jean asked, shocked.

"Until we find some true way of stopping them, we cannot risk getting into fights. They want to kill each other. That is wrong, but it's also incredibly dangerous. They won't think twice of doing away with you if the X-men get in the way."

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Brain Wave looked out across the destruction with disgust. It figured that that little rat would get her mechanical idiot to booby trap this place. Rampage had been in a total fury. Most of the human lackeys had been taken out. Some mutants. But she had been towards the back, and hadn't got but a little dust on her. 

Now would begin the mutant manhunt. Rampage had made it painfully obvious that both the rat's group and the Russian that got away were to be killed. She had no problem with that. She flipped her hair behind her shoulder and smiled. 

Maybe she would have the privilege of taking out the rat herself.

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Nervous. Nervous. Can't go to sleep.

I groaned and rolled over on the hard ground. My mind was still buzzing. The animals were upset, because I was upset. 

Usually I can keep a good handle on my emotions, and they won't bleed into the animal community. But this time I was having trouble. Maybe it was the massive lump in my stomach that filled me with dread. Or the fact that I was too tired to sleep. I heard that happens.

But in any case, I needed to sleep. Or do something. 

I got up and walked out of the barn quietly. I walked out into the mountain woods.

Woods are always full of voices, even at night. Wolves. Owls. Bats. Wildcats. Others. I could hear them in passing. They grumbled about food, about ranging, about how there were people in the barn. 

Normal things. 

I didn't need a flashlight here, the moon was enough, coupled with my uncanny ability to tell where things were by listening to the voices I heard. 

I sat down in a small clearing, looking at the tress as they rustled with the wind. I let my mind wander back…family…

I quickly shook my head clear. As much as I loved the family I had back then, that memory was of no use anymore. I left that family so that they wouldn't be ostracized. Besides, my eccentricities were getting to be too much for them to handle anyway. 

Talking to voices only I could hear and making references to things only I knew about, sometimes wandering off for weeks at a time, the painful episodes when I first started linking my mind…it was too much. I left. 

But times like these…times when I sit alone in the woods… always make me want to go back. If only just to see them again.

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Well! I know it took me awhile to update (again) but I'm trying to keep on top of it. 

Ravyn Nyte: Buddy told me that it is not the chicken nor the egg, but the rice that goes good with both….That can't be right. Oh well. Oh, and thank you for the advice, I plan on using it. 

Dragonet: Oops. Sorry.  A fan club? Are you for real or are you just joshing me? 

Rogue77: Hee! Thanks so much! You always leave such nice reviews.

Laureate: I can't seem to steer away from that with the X-men. I'm trying, but I can't seem to get out of that rut. Oh well. They are supposed to be the spoiled children. The story is mostly focused on Underground mutants anyway. But I'm glad you liked it!

Anee: I will. I'm playing with a couple of concepts as I type. But I need to finish a fic before I start a new Reg-verse Danny. 

I moved the shout-outs down…because I didn't want to put them at the top? Just changing some pace. 

Brain Wave will take the reviews yet again!


	22. A Little Time Alone

 Sorry for the lull in updates! I'm stuck with about six different projects, mostly writing, and it's really taking it out of me.

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The bus hummed as the yellow lines flashed past.

One month. 

One month since the group split down the center. It was too difficult to travel in a group. And some of us wouldn't be able to help anyone. Ivan especially. He went across seas with Julian and Daria. He knew some places where they could hide out, and they wanted to keep an eye on him, he still was pretty injured. Daria decided to go along because she'd never been overseas. I suspect it had more to do with Julian. 

Stray and Buddy took the younger kids and went to Canada, where they could be easily contacted in case something went wrong.

Arcane and Garil went to clear out the other hiding places,  considering it their duty to serve and protect. 

Cassius and Brutus had gone with Stray, and Doggy, after my special request, had left with Arcane. 

What can I say? I have a thing for the guy.  Or not.

Patrols had been sent for us not long after we disappeared into the winds. The safe house we'd been using got burnt down. Places that we stayed in got torn apart before we managed to cover our tracks completely. They were still after us. Still going around for our blood. We had to be careful.

And me? I could have gone with any of them. But I needed…alone time. I was more than capable of taking care of myself, usually. 

It was stress. My head had been full of voices, almost screaming, for a half a month. I began to have a break-down from the strain of hearing so many voices at the same time. 

 Having a break down when your emotions have the off-chance of affecting the animals around you is not good. 

Especially when a good bit of the animals in the area are big, with very sharp teeth. Or in some cases, antlers.

My friends didn't get off the roof of that old barn for several days. 

Fortunately, the episode only lasted as long and I was okay. So were the animals. I think I may have given everyone else a long lasting phobia about deer, though. 

They weren't happy when I left. But no one could sneak up on me, especially with so many eyes watching my back.  And they had to agree. Of course, the bear I asked to watch and make sure they didn't follow me had something to do about it.

The bus went over a bump and jogged my mind from the reverie. I looked around. There was a greasy haired man grinning at me, an old woman fussing over her bags, some kids sitting beside each other and grumbling, two, obviously a couple, whispering about things I didn't care to hear. I ignored the man, he was of little consequence.

Consequence. Just like we were to Rampage. I shook my head lightly.

I felt…numb, in a way. My mind had been so preoccupied with my friends and my life that I never really came to terms with the death of my good friend, Mr. Super. Then again, it was an understanding that tears don't help the dead.  But not mourning was like sneering at their sacrifice. But…I couldn't mourn. It was like my emotions were too exhausted. I'm sure It'll happen sometime, it will hit me…but right now, I was detached. 

I turned my head back to looking out the window. This was just temporary. Rampage had to be dealt with. Especially now that he claimed The Mountain as his base of operation. He had an army in there. He could easily take over a town and start plotting terrorist attacks.

It was our responsibility to deal with him. The Underground deals with the problems that sprout out of it and from within it. Usually it would fall on the Paladins. But all of a sudden there wasn't very many jumping up to the task. 

Having one killed and one missing does that, I guess. But I expected more. I guess I was a little disappointed. 

But fear is a natural reaction. 

The bus slowed to a stop and I picked up my bag to get off of the bus.  I was wearing a flannel shirt over a white tee shirt, with blue denim jeans. My bag was an old hiking pack. I slung it over my shoulder, thanked the driver, and got off the bus. 

"Hey!"

I didn't even glance behind me as the greasy haired guy ran up.

"Hey, you want to go get a drink or something, honey?"

"No." I said calmly.

"Come on." He caught my shoulder to stop me from walking. I glared at the hand  out of the corner of my eye. "Just one drink? I mean, pretty girl like you, bet you got lots of stories to tell."

"If you don't remove that hand you're going to be very sorry." I hissed lightly.

"Hey, loosen up."

"If I find that hand still touching me in two seconds, it will NEVER touch anything else." I whispered in a deathly quiet hiss. He took the hint and removed the hand.

"What is with you?"

"I have better things to do than hang out with you. Bye." I said politely and walked past him. He called me something mean, but I ignored him. 

The stop had left me at a truck stop, and from there lay an expanse of dusky plain. Not quite desert, not quite the green plains. I set out in a random direction. The whole purpose of my trip was to be at one with my mind, or something that Buddy said. And the best way to do that was to wander. I was already feeling better.

I made sure the water bottle was full as I walked. I could find water easily, but it was always easier, and better tasting, to carry my own. 

My hair blew away from my face as I walked, relishing the silence. I might as well enjoy it.

It wouldn't last for long.

  
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Shout-Outs

Ravyn Nyte: I'm sure you'll remember it soon. Buddy has no comment. Heh, thank you very much. Foreshadowing is great fun.

Rogue77:Well, I'm doing my best to keep it interesting. I'm glad you like it.

Dragonet: Well, I suppose you can make a fanclub if you'd like. Just as long as I get credit for my characters. If you are making one, I'd like to see how it works out. Sorry, this chapter was all Danny, but I'll try to push a little Acolytes in the next few chapters. 

Raliena: Thank you very much!

Anyway, Juju will take the reviews today! With any luck, that will speed up the last chapter of Original Interview. 


	23. The Problems

A/N

Sorry for not updating in what, ten days? Between my other updating story, taking off Original Interview,  and putting up Comments from The Characters, and taking care of the oodles of homework piled upon me, time just slipped away. I'll try my best to get back on track, I promise!

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The sun is hot. It's dry.

Perfect.

I sat down on a hill, just letting my mind wander across this grassland, letting my mind touch briefly in a sort of recognition to animals rushing around, just relaxing in the sun.

I was probably going to be as red as a beet after this. Sitting outside in sun like this could burn anyone.  

Even before I could see him, I knew he was coming. They told me. Whispering, the few indignant snarls from bothered animals. Birds mocking from the air. Foolish two leggers, not able to fly.

I didn't face him as he came close. I was determined to keep what little peace I had left. 

"Danny."

Drat.

I sighed and leaned back a little, shielding my eyes from the sun. 

"What do you want, Arcane?"

"You know."

"Yeah. Sorry." I got up slowly, still loath to leave my nice sunny space. "So what's the plan?"

"You assumed we had one?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry."

I always knew that this would happen. It had too. 

The Underground solves its own problems.

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Magneto had been watching these most interesting happenings with a careful; eye. It would be only a matter of time before there was another outbreak of fighting in the Underground. Then, Rampage would be weakened and he wouldn't be able to hold onto his spot. Not that he, Magneto, needed to wait for that fool's hold to weaken. But why dirty his own hands when he could just let them fight amongst themselves? 

Divide and conquer, except he didn't have to do anything. 

His Acolytes were growing bored, they would need some action soon. And they would get every bit of it, if Rampage decided to defy his inevitable defeat.

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Rampage was secretly gloating. In the space of less than three weeks, he had become the most powerful mutant, controlling a vast portion of the Underground.

His main group of lackeys all fawned over him, trying to snag one of the high positions in his army in the making. But he wasn't stupid. Only the best would be trusted. Only the most loyal.

There was still a major eyesore in the form of that small group of rabble, Ivan and his small band that got away and the other group. But soon, even they wouldn't be able to make a difference.

Nothing would. Not even Magneto.

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Daria was sitting on Julian's shoulders, surveying the area for the tenth time in about an hour. Not that Julian seemed to mind. He was perfectly content to let Daria do whatever she wanted. 

"They aren't here yet."

"Obviously." Stray twitched lightly. He was always twitching lately. 

Buddy was sitting up on a hill, reading a book. He was actually reading it this time. 

The dusty grassy plain was hot, and the sun beat down unmercifully on them. Garil and Ivan had both left to find some sort of shade. As they were pretty human looking, they took off to the café they had all passed a few miles back. And Arcane, well…

Arcane went off to find Danny. And he hadn't been back in several hours. Of course, it probably would have taken longer, if he hadn't 'acquired ' some information on her whereabouts. 

And as for the three hounds, they were sitting with them. It was unknown why they didn't leave with Arcane. They probably had their own reasons.

"Hey! There they are!" Daria began waving, accidentally knocking Gepetto off of her back. He was caught by Julian on the way down. 

Danny and Arcane walked across the plain, the dust clinging to them. She winced as the bright sun shown in her eyes. She allowed a small smile break across her face when she saw them, but it was not without a bit of regret, which was not lost on the others.

"Hey guys."

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Another chapter finished!

I'll be starting a new Reg-verse Danny fic soon! Keep an eye out for it!

HoneyBug17: Oh man! That's awful! Twenty? That's hilarious! But to tell the truth, I have a phobia about centipedes. Found one in my bed once and never got over it. I hate those things.

Drunk On Tang: Wow, thank you! I always try to make my characters as believable as possible, and to see people say things like you say things always make me happy.

Laureate: oops. Sorry, I'll try to get back on track. And my animal dialogue, I really have to put some more in there, thank you for reminding me.  

Dragonet: It was only a fleeting mention, but more will come, I promise! A snow day? I'm jealous, I haven't had one this year.

Rogue77: Thanks a bunch, I was trying to think of a good threat, I'm glad you liked it.

Gepetto will take the reviews this time!


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